


[DISCONTINUED] The Small Space In Between

by orphan_account



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Airports, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Awkwardness, Blow Jobs, Bonfires, Boys Kissing, Break Up, Caring af Natsu, Cheating, Clubbing, Date?, Day At The Beach, Domestic, Drinking, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Grocery Shopping, Hangover, Hurt, I'm so lazy, Juvia is basically Gray's bestfriend, M/M, My First Fanfic, Natsu's a great advice-giver y'all, OOC depending on how you see it, Oh yay, Reunions, Smut, as if that's not obvious enough, domestic (???), drunk Gray is my favorite so far, drunk!Gray, finally my lazy ass has decided to write something, snowglobes, so now they've upgraded to FaceTiming, what is this, why, yay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-09-25 14:08:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 36,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9823946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Gray loved Natsu. Natsu loved Gray. Of course, that was four years ago. It's not the same anymore... right?





	1. Silence

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first work here. Yay. Real talk though, this work will be edited from time to time randomly, like I'm gonna edit parts of chapters I've already posted. Don't worry, it's usually minor details that I'm picky about. Anyway, if any of you readers out there see anything I can improve on, just tell me on the comments section. Thanks ^_^!
> 
> P.S. I can't decide if it's supposed to be mature or teen and up. Anyway, let's just be at teen and up

Gray awkwardly tugs at his necktie, the party lights glaring at his face the moment he enters party place. _Why does this have to be so formal?_ He complains inside his mind. It’s not like he dislikes formal events, but this is a reunion. He’s not here to listen to people bragging about their riches.

“Gray!”

Gray hears the familiar sound of Lucy’s voice just a few meters from him and he sees his friends in one table. At least, he knows somebody. It’s not like his group of friends got that scattered anyway, since Lucy works as the secretary of the CEO of the company he is working in and Erza has a patisserie and a store just for cosplaying materials. Loke also works in the same company Gray is in, Happy is a veterinarian now, Pantherlily is a policeman, Carla’s a fashion designer and currently owns a boutique, Gajeel and Levy have some kind of bookstore connected to Gajeel’s workshop (and are currently married to each other), Wendy and Romeo are starting college this year, and Natsu, well, he... he’s a firefighter and a mixed martial arts teacher now. He works farther away than most of Gray’s friends. So he doesn’t really see the pink-head that much, not that he really looks forward to it.

“Try not to strip in here…” he hears Erza mutter behind the glass of wine she’s holding. Gray blushes a bit at being reminded about his stripping habits, which he is utterly helpless about. He decides to ignore the redhead’s statement, though, and looks around the table. Erza is reaching for another bottle of wine, Lucy’s being all lovey-dovey with Loke, Happy is talking about animal care with Pantherlily and Carla, and Mirajane and Lisanna (Mirajane works as a bartender, Lisanna is a commercial model along with Mira and a veterinarian) are sitting next to Elfman, who still is looking for a job, backed with his sisters’ support.

The group says ‘Hello’ to him at some point after he sits on one of the chairs around the table. Gray can’t help but be dissatisfied with the fact that Natsu is either very late (the party started at around 6 and it’s already around 7 when Gray reached the venue) or not coming at all. He doesn’t know what to feel if he sees Natsu again; after that horrible break-up in right before the third year of college, he just doesn’t know anymore.

“Natsu! Good thing you came!” Immediately after the break-up crosses his mind, said pink-head man he broke up with appears oh so suddenly as if the man was conjured by his mind. Maybe Gray actually did, because he still misses Natsu and his warm embraces and his kisses and the way he would touch him and those moments they’d get carried away with love and lust for each other and when he inserts- okay, he should not be thinking about that in a public place.

“Hi, Lisanna. You look really pretty today. Lucy still looks heavy, are you sure you’re okay there, Loke?” Lisanna blushes at Natsu’s compliment, while Lucy grumbles something about Natsu’s joke. Natsu doesn’t look at Gray, and Gray somewhat shrinks inside his mind and starts to kill himself internally, so he considers it a good thing that Erza finally speaks to him.

“Hey, Gray, how’s work coming along?” It was one of those typical questions that Erza asks people when she senses that they feel out of place. He kind of does, since Lucy is with her boyfriend, Happy is busily talking to his batchmates, Mira and Elfman are too busy with doting over Lisanna, and Lisanna and Natsu are acting too couple-like for his own liking. Ignore that last part.

“I don’t even know sleep anymore. The new program our team has been working on requires a lot of work and attention so I usually sleep at 3 then wake up at 6. At least I’m getting paid,” he replies. So far, his job has been good enough. He gets paid a good nine thousand dollars every month, so he guesses that’s good enough of a pay, and that’s not including his overtime work pay.

“You should take care of yourself more.”

Gray nods and takes a sip of some of the wine in his glass. “Yeah. Anyway, how about you? How’s the business going?”

“It’s going great. Oh! And I’ve opened a new branch near the center of the city, isn’t that great?” Erza’s eyes practically glinted at that, and he smiles at her success. Her business back then had been small but now… it’s so all over New York.

“Yeah, it is.”

Gray sees in the corner of his eyes Natsu staring at him, and he turns his head to stare back at the pink-haired man. His mouth goes dry.

“Gray!”

Gray turns around to the mention of his name and finds Juvia making her way through the crowd. She’s that nice and pretty girl from the office. He guesses he has talked to the woman a bit, even just through coffee breaks. She’s a great friend. Thank god Juvia doesn’t stalk him anymore. Those times were horrible.

“Hey, Juvia! I didn’t know you went to the same college.”

Juvia blushes a bit and looks to her left. Gray follows her gaze and sees Lyon. Oh. That other guy who was an intern with him under Ul.

“Lyon came and asked me if I wanted to come with him.”

Oh. Ooohhh. Wow. That’s great.

“That’s great, Juvia. Oh, wait, these are my friends here.” He looks back at his group of friends and introduces Juvia. “Hey, guys, this is Juvia. Juvia, my friends.”

Erza smiles at the blue-head, Lucy and Loke nodding before going back to their oh so intimate conversation, Happy cheerfully saying hi (though Pantherlily and Carla just nodded and muttered ‘hello’s), the Strauss siblings greeting Juvia in unison, and Natsu, well, he had this smile on his face and that I-want-to-kill-you-right-now look in his eyes.

“Uh, hey Natsu. Long time no see. I… ah, this is Juvia… she’s my coworker.” Gray tries to avoid the pauses, he really does, but he can’t help it when he sees Natsu staring at him. Again.

Juvia taps his shoulder, turning around and waving goodbye to the group. She smiles at him and gives him a kiss on the cheek before leaving. Gray watches her glide along the crowd and slip back beside Lyon.

“So, was she special?” Natsu speaks behind him. Gray had not noticed the pink-head moving towards him. He shivers involuntarily at the warmth he was radiating. Natsu has always been hot (in terms of temperature, but sure, physique can also count) for a normal human being. Huh.

“She’s a friend.”

“Looks more than just a friend to me.”

“She’s with that guy there.” Annoyance laces Gray’s voice.

“Oh.”

Gray hears relief in the man’s voice, yet he keeps silent. He’s not really sure what to make of this. What is this to Natsu, he wonders. He shakes his head. Gray had hurt him. Maybe Natsu is just really doubtful, and somehow does not want to be lied to. Again. Like before. That must be the relief he heard. Of course it is.

“Hey. How are you doing?”

They haven’t talked in a long time. Probably four years since they talked to each other. Gray doesn’t even know how to respond. _What am I supposed to say?_ He cheated (technically, yeah, he cheated). How are they talking about normal things right now?

“I’m doing great. You?”

“I’m fine, too.”

An awkward silence settles between them. They really shouldn’t be standing here. They should be sitting right next to their friends and trying to just mingle. Gray’s not even sure if he wants to go back to what they normally were before all these drama and complications. It's just too hard to think about that now. He sighs. When did things get so complicated for Gray?

“Hey. Let’s go to one of the balconies here.”

Natsu doesn’t wait for him to respond. Just grabs his hand and leads him to a balcony. They bump a few people in the process, but they somehow get there. He feels the cold air caressing his cheek.

“Why?” he whispers. The balcony overlooks the garden, the lights making everything so mystical, so fairytale-like, so unlike what they have – had.

“Hmmm?” Natsu hums beside him as the pink-head settles his head on his hands. Gray sighs, crouching a bit to touch the vine creeping around one of the pillars holding the semi-circular slab of stone he was leaning his elbow on. He just doesn’t understand.

“Why do you want to talk to me now?”

He hears Natsu shift beside him, probably straightening his back or moving away from him. Gray shrinks further in his mind and crouches even lower.

“Hmmm… I think it’s because we’ve matured enough. Back then, we were naïve. We didn’t know how to handle that kind of relationship. We were not used to the transition of rivals to suddenly becoming lovers. I guess… I guess now, we can talk without much of fighting.”

Gray stands there, taken aback by Natsu’s words. He did not expect the man to have matured this much after all those years. He did not expect this. It’s overwhelming. He did not expect himself to feel this… sad. It’s almost as if Natsu had moved on. _Of course, he has moved on, you idiot. It’s been four years. You can’t expect him to love you the moment he sees you again_.

“I see…”

The cold air feels so… unwelcome. Just a while ago, it felt nice against his skin, like it always did, but now, it feels harsh. Almost as if it’s joining Gray’s feelings in torturing him mentally.

“It’s a good night to be friends again, huh?”

Gray involuntarily nods. He might be wrong about this. He might be making a mistake. They’ve never been friends. Maybe this won't work out. Maybe he would stop feeling this ache in his chest. Maybe he'll mess it all up. Again. Nevertheless, his heart refuses to obey his mind, and he stands there close to Natsu.


	2. Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That feeling of awkwardness people feel when they meet their ex again after weeks of moving on? Yeah, that's what Gray is going through right now. Except it's been four years since then and he still hasn't moved on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, a second chapter. Well, I did not expect to update so soon (I usually update like once every other week so this is fast already). Anyway, here it is. Enjoy~

Gray immediately regrets his decision the moment he closes his apartment door. He collapses onto his couch and groans against a black pillow. What was he thinking? Friends? Friends?! How are they even going to be friends? He doesn’t know how to be friends with Natsu. Gray still has not moved on. He should be the one who has moved on between the both of them, but here he is, kicking himself as he turns on the TV.

_Woooooooooah…_

_Wooooooooah…_

_Wooo-_

Gray gropes around the couch for his phone and answers the call.

“Hello,” he says dryly, muting the TV as he sits up. He doesn’t bother to look at the caller ID. Does it even really matter to know who’s calling him at this hour? Gray glances at the clock. 10 in the evening.

“Gray. I called to ask about the progress of your work. As you know, I wasn't at work on Friday so I want to know your progress.”

Ah, that overly formal voice and the large amount of distrust. Evergreen. She’s the head of their unit. Obviously, she thinks it’s a good idea to call him now.

“Uh, the animation is definitely going great, though I have a bit of a problem with the tile sheets sometimes. Yeah.”

“All right. We’ve only got three more weeks to meet the deadline for beta testing, so if you can, please do try to complete it next week. That is all, thank you.”

The conversation ends and Gray sinks back on to his couch. Huh. Star versus The Forces of Evil. What episode was this again? _Friend-enemies_. Great. Just what he needed. Something he had and probably (yes, most probably) can never have again. Gah.

 

“You know you’re just hurting yourself, right?”

Somehow, he started telling Juvia about Natsu. And their past. And this is the worst part. He felt comfortable the whole time. Gray’s not supposed to be telling Juvia all about his secrets like she’s his best friend. Hell, he should be getting lunch at that diner a block away rather than sitting in the lounge with Juvia and being all buddy-buddy with her.

“Juvia, I know that.”

“So you should tell him!”

Gray sighs beside the blue-head. It’s not like it’s that easy. He has no actual reason that Natsu won’t misunderstand. He’s supposed to have moved on. He was the one who cheated. He was the one who broke it off. Natsu wouldn’t understand his reasons.

“It’s not that easy, you know. I broke his heart. He wants to be friends now. And I’m going to hurt him again if I tell him that I can’t. He’ll misunderstand.”

“But you still haven’t told him. You’ll never know.”

“But I knew him for what? Since –“

Juvia raises an eyebrow at Gray. “Knew. You said he’s matured, right? He might be more open-minded this time. He might understand.”

Gray sips some coffee and shifts his body a bit. There. As much as he’d like to avoid the subject, Juvia’s right. They have matured. Last Saturday was proof enough. Natsu’s reactions may not be the same as they were years ago. Maybe the man would understand even without an explanation.

“I don’t know, okay? It’s complicated. God, I wish my lovelife is as easy as yours. You’re with the man you love.”

Juvia smiles thoughtfully at that and pats his head. “Don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll be able to figure it out soon enough.”

“I hope so.”

“It’ll happen.”

Gray snorts at that, warmth seeping inside his body as he sits there. Maybe it isn’t so bad to tell someone about things like this after all. Juvia starts to get up beside him.

“Hey, I’ll go find Lyon now, are you okay with being alone here?”

He smiles. “I’m not some child, I can take care of myself. Go ahead.”

The blue-haired woman walks out of the room, and Gray plops down the sofa. _I can take care of myself my ass. You can’t even go and talk to Natsu without telling someone_. The sound of the coffee machine buzzing floats inside his ears. Gray stares at the ceiling for a long time, gathering his own thoughts and thinking about how he could have done things differently.

 

“So, have you finished the animations?” Hibiki checks on him from the entrance of his cubicle. Gray turns towards the man and puts his mug of coffee next to the keyboard. He’s still trying to find the error in his code, and well, it’s kind of getting frustrating how everything seems okay and yet it’s not working like it should.

“I’m trying to find the error here. I think after this I’ve still got a few to work on, but don’t worry, it’ll only take a few hours to work on each one of those.”

Hibiki nods at his words and flashes a thumbs up sign. “Great. At this rate, we’ll get done a week before the deadline.”

“Yeah, I hope so. I really need to catch up on my sleep.”

The man walks off to the elevator after that, leaving Gray yawning in his chair. Since when was the last time he slept a full eight hours?

Suddenly, his phone starts vibrating in his pocket and he jolts up in surprise. _Oh, a call_. He looks at his phone and sees an unknown number. Must be someone who contacted the wrong number. Nevertheless, he answers it and draws the phone closer to his ear.

“Hey, Gray.”

Natsu. It’s Natsu’s voice. Even if Natsu has changed after all these years, this, this voice, he knows for sure that it’s Natsu’s, even through the phone. Gray panics inwardly. WHAT. Why is Natsu calling him? Where did he even get Gray’s number? What’s Gray going to say? What is Natsu –

“Gray? You there?”

“I – ah – I’m h-here.”

Gray facepalms at his voice. _Really? This is the right time to stutter?_ he insults himself mentally and looks at the entrance of his cubicle. _Well, nobody’s around to check in_.

“Hey, I was wondering if we can go out of town this weekend. I know, it’s Monday and it’s just the start of the week, it’s too early, but I don’t really wanna call the day before. I’ve been trying to make use of that small cottage I bought in Malibu, so I thought I’d go to the beach there. It’s not really peak season, so I guess most of the beach my cottage is in is going to be pretty secluded. The thing is, I’ve tried asking other people, but they’re all busy, and then you came to mind. It would also be a great opportunity to catch up, don’t you think?”

Gray’s mouth goes dry. He’s having his beach fantasy again. _Honestly, get your mind out of the gutter_. His mind is right. It’s just a really friendly trip. A trip to a new start. A friendly relationship with Natsu. That’s all.

Really, he could just go refuse. He’s got the perfect excuse! His unit has a project, that would be a good excuse. It’s not like it’s going to be an excuse anyway. It’s true that he’ll be needing to finish it next week. Gray closes his eyes. He can do this.

“Okay, sure.”

He can’t do it.

 

Juvia stares at him, wide-eyed.

“You have so little self-control.”

Gray groans against the pillow that’s currently thrust against his face at the moment. He knows that. It was definitely a mistake. Two nights with Natsu in Malibu, probably just them in a secluded beach, fuck, how is he even supposed to act like they’re “friends”? Gray raises his head from the pillow.

“It’s one of those times again when I can’t say no to him! Honestly, I want to kill myself right now.”

“Okay, don’t. Really though, aren’t you being too masochistic?”

Gray resumes to bury his face in the pillow. He knows well enough that he’s being masochistic as fuck. He can just go and tell Natsu that he’s going to be working on a program. Gray takes his phone out.

_Hey. I can’t go. I’m going to be working on our program this weekend and it’s due next week. Sorry._

There. He’s going to send this. Obviously. It should be easy to send this message. It’s not like he’s being an asshole anyway, since it’s true he has a lot to work on. Gray hesitates. What’s so wrong about spending a weekend with Natsu, right? They’re friends. They’re friends now, meaning it’s not like he should be avoiding the man. They need closure, too, since their break-up was never really clear. Natsu at least deserves to know things. His finger moves away from the send button.

“You know what, I think I need to stop stressing about this for a bit. You know, enjoy the weekend.”

Juvia stares at him. “You sure?”

“Yeah. I mean, I’ll just cast my feelings to the side on the weekend, and, you know, enjoy.”

What could possibly go wrong from spending a weekend with Natsu? Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That 'woah' thing is the intro of STRIKE BACK. Dat song.


	3. Calls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the day before the trip is shown and shit, is it full of calls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooray hooray hooray. This is my laziness getting to me. I'm sorry.

Tuesday passes by. So does Wednesday. It’s already Thursday and he still has not heard from Natsu. Gray doesn’t know if he’s supposed to just go and wait for the guy to pick him up. His fingers wander towards the phone sometimes, itching to call the pink-haired man. Well, he’s calling for a reason.

The elevator pings as its doors open, startling Gray from his thoughts. He looks at his watch. 6. He’s here at 6. The workplace is pretty much barren around this time of the day, but then, today, Gray decided he’ll get to the office early since he had nothing to do at home.

He reaches his cubicle and turns on the computer. _Some coffee maybe?_ Gray lazily gets up from his chair and takes a walk towards the floor’s coffee room. He really needs coffee right now. Drowsily looking around, he pours some coffee powder and water inside the machine and watches as it starts to make his drink.

A few minutes later, and he is inhaling the scent of black coffee as he pours it into a mug. Gray was just about to get out of the room when he hears a sound. The thing is, it’s not like a thud or something. It was a moan.

It takes him a good few seconds before he puts his mug atop the nearby side table and walks towards the source of the sound. The meeting room. Someone could be hurt right now. Well that or they’re masturbating or something.

Gray really wishes it was the former. Instead, he’s here staring at the naked forms of Laxus, the CEO’s bodyguard, and Mr. Justine, the CEO himself. What’s worse is the fact that he can clearly see that Laxus is fucking the CEO against the meeting table, even though it’s plenty dark. And he can hear the obscene squelching every time Laxus thrusts inside Freed. Oh God. Gray quickly recovers and slams the door behind him and grabs his mug and walks back to his cubicle and ohgodohgodohgod he hopes they did not notice him. He did not just see that.

God, he’ll never be able to see them the same way ever again.

 

Natsu calls him at lunch. It was right before Gray heads out for lunch.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Gray.”

“Hmmm?”

Juvia waves at him as he tucks his phone between his left ear and shoulder, with Lyon leaning against the wall behind her. He mouths ‘I’ll catch up’ to Juvia and fiddles with his shirt.

“I’m going to pick you up tomorrow right after work, is that okay? We’re also gonna take a plane, don’t worry, I’ve got everything covered so you don’t really have to pay. I think I – “

“Wait, a plane?”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t that a bit too pricey?”

“Oh, don’t worry, it’s not, trust me.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

A plane. They’re going to California. That’s right across the country. What.

“When did you even get the time to buy a cabin in California? We’re in New York! Also, where did you get my number?”

Silence replies to his question. Wait. He just - fuck.

“I’m so – “

“Oh, I think I bought it around the time I took a leave from the station. And, well, Erza gave me your number. I don’t know why, I didn’t even ask for it.”

“She what?!” Even if he is somewhat – _very –_ disappointed that Natsu didn’t ask for his number, he can’t help but gawk at the fact that Erza just gave his number away. His number.

“Yeah, she did that. Anyway, I can take leaves every once a year. The station’s pretty generous about leaves.”

“Wait, where did you get the money? In college, you were broke as – “

God. College. Again. Just when he’s feeling confident about talking with Natsu. There it goes again. Fricking college.

“Hey Gray? Are you still there?”

Natsu’s voice sounds from the receiver and Gray shakes his head.

“Uh, yeah, I’m here. I really need to eat lunch now, so let’s talk later, okay?”

“Oh, okay – “

“Goodbye!”

Really, he should stop making everything so awkward.

 

When four strikes, Gray heads out to go home. Well, go to the grocery for a while to at least buy himself some ingredients for dinner after he takes the train. Work has really taken most of his time, so Gray rarely cooks for himself anymore. Tonight, though, he’ll be enjoying a good home-made dinner while watching some shows on Netflix. Wait. Is Game of Thrones updated today?

Gray takes a turn and starts to walk towards the subway. He bumps into a stranger at some point, he says sorry, and then proceeds to go get in the train. Lights flash past as the vehicle moves, though he doesn’t really care much since he’s more occupied with what he’ll have for dinner. Eventually, he reaches his station and he arrives to his neighborhood.

He heads for that small grocery store just two blocks away from his apartment, whistling a bit as he enjoys the walk. It’s really nice to not be getting out of the building at 7 or 8 or even later. He can think about things other than sleep. Thank God he lives in the less busy part of the city. It’s not like Gray’s neighborhood is isolated or something, but it has less people and cars than in the middle of New York.

“Uh hello, Gray.”

 Kinana, the cashier and co-owner, greets him as the sound of the wind chimes fills the small store. There are two other people inside with him and Kinana. Well. He picks some seasoning, then places them inside the store basket. The Japanese woman smiles at him before taking the things he bought and getting the prices of each.

“How’s it doing in business here?” Gray asks, taking his wallet out of his bag to get his money.

“Quite well, I’d say. We’re not exactly in the busiest part of town, but we still get a lot of customers here everyday.” The woman literally beams as she talks about the recent week. Gray smiles. It’s been so long since he actually had a pretty casual conversation around here. It’s usually just work, home, delivery food, work, and then sleep.

“Good luck with your store here, then. Wait, has your husband arrived from that business travel he went on?”

Kinana hums happily at his question. “He’s coming tomorrow. Do you need anything from him?”

“Oh, just asking. Have a great day, Kinana.”

“You too, Gray.”

Gray steps outside, looking around. It’s not really scenic or anything, but it’s calming compared to the bustling part of New York. Those trees there, a small bench, some kids running around, and the small apartment complexes. And although it’s not free from passing cars, it still is peaceful and nice to walk towards his apartment without walking so fast. He can savor his walk. And this Coke he’s holding.

Soon enough, he enters his apartment. It’s pretty small, but then again, Gray’s the only one living inside it. He sets the bag of ingredients on the counter and whips out a frying pan. Gray’s not a pro, but he can cook some good dishes. As soon as he gets his steak out of the fridge, he starts preparing the seasoning. If there’s one thing he learned about cooking from his mother, it’s that cold meat should get to room temperature before getting cooked.

Gray turns on the stove after putting the seasoning on the steak and sets the meat on the frying pan. _Nice_. Six flips later, he has his plate of steak. Ah, medium. He should really do this a lot.

He flips through channels on his TV, steadily taking bites from the steak. _So good._ That’s what he describes the food and the rerun of Stranger Things. Especially the glaze over the meat. Gray stretches on the sofa after he sets his plate on the coffee table. He sinks back on the cushions and lazily watches the show.

_Woooooooa –_

He immediately swats at his phone just beside him and takes the call without even looking at the screen. _Could be anyone_. Gray shrugs, bringing the phone close to his ear.

“Hello.”

Gray almost chokes at the sound that Natsu just made at the other end of the line. What the heck, is the guy having some tonsil problem at the moment or what? Because the pink-head literally croaked.

“Are you sick.” It was really a statement more than a question, but he just had to say it.

“Uh… I’m just parched. Let me get some water.”

“You’re a bad liar.” _You can do this, you can do this. You’re friends. Natsu’s not affected anymore, so you should not be, too_.

Natsu sighs. “Yeah. Okay. But I swear, it’s just from shouting too much. It’ll go away.”

“Ooookay. So, what did you call me for?”

“Just checking up if you’re ready for tomorrow.”

Gray raises an eyebrow. “Riiiight. I’m ready. So, do I hang up now or what?”

“Uhm…”

“Okay, I’ll hang up.” _Oh my god, why are you trying to avoid him?_

“Wait! Can I talk to you for a minute more?” _You’re not avoiding him, you’re just… trying to not make an awkward conversation._

“Sure.”

“About our break-up…” _Oh god, oh god, why is he bringing up the taboo subject? No!_

“Natsu, I think I still need to do some things with my program. Can we talk on the trip?”

“… I guess so. Good night, Gray.”

“Good night. Love – “ Gray stops midway and hangs up. Love you? What the heck. He’s not in a relationship with Natsu anymore. _Move on, you shithead_. He washes the dishes and switches off the TV, making his way to the bed.

Gray lies back against the sheets and closes his eyes.

 

_You fuck, wake up. You fuck, wake up. You fuck, wa-_

Gray’s hands slams against his phone’s screen as he tries to switch off the alarm. He groggily sits up from his bed. Fucking weird dream. What the heck, some Chinese monster guy chasing him for his unpaid noodles and then suddenly he’s in the middle of a clearing with Natsu sitting on a rock with only his scarf on? Like, he can’t even explain how the dream turned from horror to porn all of a sudden.

He starts to head to the bathroom, his abandoned blanket almost tripping him as he tries to fully wake up. Cold water hits his face, and he looks at himself in the mirror. Gray’s growing hair on his face again. _I’ll need to shave this later_.

He stares into the mirror for another minute, then reaches up and combs his unruly bed hair. Gray pinches a hair strand that reaches his eyes and shakes his head. He really needs a haircut. Or a trim. Or he really needs to buy new clothes. Gray pokes at a hole on his shirt and groans.

Wait. He smells bacon. And he’s still in the bathroom. Crap. Did someone get inside? Gray makes a run for the kitchen, stumbling over a few items on the ground. He slams a hand unto the wall as he looks up.

“Heeyyy…”

Gray frowns at the sound of the feminine (and highly flirtatious) voice he hears from the stove. And he sees that girl from before. Except she’s only wearing an apron while cooking some bacon. And obviously, she’s trying to stick her butt as much as possible towards the doorway’s direction. Gray’s face scrunches in disgust as he takes in the sight. _This has got to be a nightmare_. He pinches himself and feels nothing. Ha.

His eyes fly wide open, and Gray rolls over to look at the time. 1:27. Great. Just what he needs. Some alone time in bed at past midnight to remind him how alone he is in there. How he feels guilt every time he speaks to Natsu and he remembers his past actions. Why did he even get into this complicated shit?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of some things are realized here, so if you know what's going to happen then congrats. If not, then you can have a virtual cookie.


	4. In-Between

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s been about more than an hour since he came out of the company building. To be completely honest, he doesn’t even know why he’s feeling angry like this, he stood up Natsu on a lot of their first dates in the past. Not like this one is a date.

Gray finds himself at exactly 5:16 in the afternoon standing next to some flickering lamp post, his backpack slung across his back as he waits for Natsu. _Freaking hell, is he standing me up?_

It’s been about more than an hour since he came out of the company building. To be completely honest, he doesn’t even know why he’s feeling angry like this, he stood up Natsu on a lot of their first dates in the past. Not like this one is a date.

A car passes by, then another one, then groups of people, even more cars, and, well, at this point, Gray is just too tired to actually anticipate the car that Natsu is supposed to come with. Wait. He doesn’t even know what it looks like. He’s not even sure if it’s just a taxi.

He looks at his watch anxiously. 5:30. And still no Natsu in sight. He bites his lower lip, and he tries to not cry, he really does. What the hell. Why is he even crying? Natsu is just late. It’s not like the man just broke up with him.

Gray wipes away the tears that are spilling from his eyes. Some teenagers look at him oddly before rushing past. Thankfully, though, he has managed to wipe them away just as soon as he sees Natsu on a yellow cab speeding right towards him. Well.

“About time.” Gray doesn’t expect the stern voice that comes from him. What. Since when did he care about punctuality?

“Sorry about that. I had to do some last minute checking with my class and some things got messy. They’re fine now, though.” Natsu grins at him as the taxi door at the back opens and Gray slips in. It’s quite small already, since Natsu decided to bring a large duffel bag with him and some other case.

Silence settles between them, the smooth jazz music playing in the cab the only thing that doesn’t make everything so awkward. Natsu’s gaze flickers towards his direction at times, though they wander back to the street almost immediately. Gray stares out of his window just as he sees a group of kids still playing some hopscotch at this time. Damn, he misses being a kid. No worries. No problems. No complications.

The cab stops in front of the entrance to the airport and Natsu pays the fare. They step out, and unfortunately, the silence between them does not dissipate. They head for the line. They get to the seats and wait. They board the plane. Nothing happens. They sit there and Gray pretends to be interested in a magazine about travel while, in the corner of his eye, Natsu fiddles with his seat belt.

“So…” Natsu trails off beside him, the pink-haired man’s voice barely a whisper. The statement does not get followed by another and silence envelops them. Again.

Gray sets the magazine down on his lap and looks outside. Dark skies. He hums a bit, though he stops halfway. It’s too uncomfortable in here, he concludes, but then, what can he do? Tell Natsu that oh, he is so uncomfortable and he would like to reverse the flight back to New York? Or ‘hey, I just realized that I still have feelings for you and I really don’t want to make things complicated’. Right. As if that’s going to be legit.

His eyes start to droop lazily as he leans more against the now closed window.

 

“Gray. Gray. Oi. Gray.”

Gray wakes up to nudging as he slowly opens his eyes. What time is it? They left at seven. How long did he sleep? Slowly, Natsu’s face comes into view, and Gray sits up so fast that he was sure he would bump his head against the pink-head. He doesn’t.

“Are we there yet?”

“Almost. The plane’s about to ‘park’. You know what I mean.”

The awkward atmosphere earlier vanished completely. It’s so weird.

“I – ah – I – I, uh, sure. Yeah.”

Gray mentally slaps himself at his response. What the hell. He tries to look out the window and focus his attention on the suddenly interesting airport. Except he can’t because obviously, Natsu is still staring at him so glaringly. Gray gathers up the courage to look the man in the eye.

“What?”

“Were you crying before I fetched you?”

His eyes widen at that. What? Of course, not. No. Some particle of dust just got in his eyes. That’s what it all was. “No.”

“But your eyes were red.”

“Dust.”

“Really now.”

Gray almost kicks Natsu from his seat. “No. I was not.”

“If you say so.”

“Great.”

Natsu whispers on his ear, “ _You were crying, weren’t you?”_

“Oh fuck.”

Natsu smiles contentedly beside him and leans back on his seat. Gray glances back out the window, lights coming into view as the plane starts to land on the runway.

“Oh, stop pouting.”

“I’m not.” Really, he’s not. He’s just looking out the window.

“You look like this, see,” Natsu says, and puts on a duckface. Gray tries to suppress a laugh, but then fails miserably. It looks like one of those posts in Instagram that he always screenshots just so he can have a good laugh afterwards. And yes, Gray does use Instagram. What? It’s pretty good. Though not as good as Tumblr.

“Was that in purpose or what?”

“I look into Instagram once in a while. This week, I saw a post with a girl doing just that.”

Gray stares at Natsu. “Oh god, that facial expression was 2015. That was not this week.”

Natsu raises his hands in the air, earning him a few looks from the passengers behind them and the ones on their right side. “Okay, fine. The last time I checked my Instagram was 2016.”

“Dude.”

“What? I just spend more time on Tumblr and Reddit on my free time than I should.”

“I just thought you would be all like ‘What is Instagram? What the heck is Twitter?’ You know what I mean. Like I thought all you’d know is Facebook.”

Natsu punches his shoulder playfully and grins. “You wound me.”

“God, your Old English accent is so weird. You kind of sound like my boss, only worse.”

“Maybe – “

The captain’s voice interrupts Natsu, telling them that it’s okay to unhook their seatbelts and start getting their things out of the compartments now. Gray gets up and nudges Natsu’s knees. Natsu grunts before getting out of his seat and getting their things. He hands Gray his backpack and takes his own belongings.

“What were you going to say earlier?” Gray asks, pulling a strap out and slinging it on his arm.

“Oh, nothing.” Natsu shrugs his backpack on, well, his back, duh.

“Right,” he says sarcastically before going along with the flow of people streaming out the plane’s exit.

“Let’s just grab something to eat after this. I’m hungry. You hungry right now?”

“Yeah. I think so.”

“Great. I know a place.”

They proceed out of the airport and get a cab. They settle on the backseat, with some shuffling and cursing, but they manage to sit in a comfortable position.

“Why in Malibu, though? Isn’t this like a place for celebrities? I bet that cabin is like my apartment but thrice the size,” Gray ends with a joking tone, because come on, Natsu isn’t that rich. Right?

“You might not actually be wrong.”

“Seriously? Where did you get all those money? Damn, if the fire department pays you so much, I’m regretting going for IT.” Gray pretends to shake his head disappointedly, and laughs. Wait. This is going well. He’s actually not being awkward right now. He’s legit talking without being reminded by that awful break-up. He’s becoming friends with Natsu.

“Turns out my dad was richer than I thought. Before he died when I was a kid, he talked to our lawyer to give me my inheritance when I graduate from college. So I got a lot of money.”

Gray whistles. “Cool dad.”

“Yeah. How about you?”

“Me?”

“What’s been happening to you for the past how many years?”

“Well, I found a job several months after graduation. The pay’s good, so I’m not complaining. I went abroad once when Erza gave me a ticket for Tokyo after she opened her third branch. That’s pretty much the only significant things that happened to me before we met again.”

They settle into a long silence again, though this time, a silence that’s comfortable. The rap music playing in the cab fills in between them for some time, too, before Natsu speaks again.

“It’s so tiring being an adult,” Natsu moans, slinging an arm on the leather. Gray blinks for a moment, just because he can’t help but think of inappropriate things at the sound the pink-haired man made.

“Yeah. Feels good standing up on my own feet though.”

“You’re ri – oh hey, we’re here!”

The cab stops abruptly, Gray almost hitting his head as his upper body thrusts forward. “God, don’t do that ever again.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Wait. Why are you not throwing up? You used to barf after each ride. Wait, you barfed even on the rides back then.”

“I got used to it. Last year.”

Changes, changes. They always surprise Gray. Somewhat. It’s just not something he likes a lot, you know? Changes were usually from bad things. Like when his parents died when he was a kid. He had to go to one of those orphanages and he was a complete loner. No friends. No one who goes and wants to adopt a child there wants him. Even worse, he had to be mixed in with the wrong crowd on high school. Drugs. Lots of drugs. Gray spent most of his time in the guidance councilor’s office and the rehab. He kept getting sent there until his second year. He met Erza first. One of her eyes then were covered. Their first meeting wasn’t really the best, but by the end of the first semester, they were friends already. After that, he was introduced to the rest of the gang. That was probably one of the best changes he ever had in his life. And then he met Natsu. Gray thought back then, ‘this guy is a prick’. But he ended up falling anyway. He confessed. He got rejected. Then they did not even look at each other after that. He hated everything around that time. Oh, and college came. The group managed to still go to the same college and then he met more people who then later joined them. Second year into college, Natsu asked him out on a date. They started talking. It was good at first. But by the final year, he got into something and they ended up breaking up. There goes the bad change again.

“Hey. You coming?”

Natsu calls out to him from the front of a diner (or restaurant?).

“Sure.”

 “You spaced out there for a few seconds. Were you thinking of something from work?”

“No. I was just thinking about some random things.”

“If you say so.”

They get inside, and Gray looks around, unbelieving. This is like some restaurant for rich people, only that everything is affordable and nobody except for the staff are around. It’s like the whole place is reserved just for them.

“Hey Natsu. What is with this place?”

Natsu looks back at him and replies, “I know the owners of this place. They’re usually open from three to three.”

“No, I mean, like, is this place reserved or what?”

“It’s not. People just don’t usually drop by here around this time, which is pretty surprising. So we’ve got the whole place to ourselves. If you don’t count the staff.”

Natsu heads toward the counter, leaving Gray to properly get a look around. It’s quite classy, with a bit of goth. He can see some paintings on the far end of the room, and he sees ‘Crime Sorciere’ written on one of the paintings. One of the staff there wipes one of the tables, though the wood is already practically shining.

“Hey, Gray!”

Natsu calls him from his place, and Gray slowly walks towards the pink-haired man. Right behind the counter, he sees a blue-haired man with some weird tattoo right under his left eye.

“I’m Jellal. Owner of this place.”

“Co-owner.”

A black-haired girl pops out from the doorway to what presumably is the kitchen. She walks to the counter and looks at the both of them.

“I know, I know, Ultear. Now go.”

“No way. Are these two a couple or what?” Ultear gestures at them, her perfectly manicured nails drawing an imaginary line right between him and Natsu.

Gray feels warmth creep unto his cheeks at the woman’s words. They _used_ to be lovers. Used to. Damn, he shouldn’t be blushing like this. It’s embarrassing!

“Aw, look, he’s blushing!”

He sees a pink-haired girl walk out from the kitchen. He sees her drape her arms around the other woman. He sees Ultear looking like she doesn’t like it, but the blush on her cheeks is still evident. Oh god, why. They’re like the female versions of him and Natsu when they were – okay, he should really stop. It’s not helping.

“Anyway, we can sit anywhere, right?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Jellal makes a shooing motion and starts to wipe the counter.

They walk to said booth, the area dubiously lit in a slightly pink tinge that makes everything look like an actual date. Which is what this is not. Honestly, he thought this would be your casual place, not a romantic restaurant.

Gray sits across Natsu, his menu covering his face, because duh, Natsu can’t see his face right now. This situation right here is like a rerun of their first date ever: awkward, too romantic to let him just sit there comfortably, and with him blushing the whole time (even when he was the one who asked out Natsu). Except they’re just casual friends who are eating out somewhere in Malibu, California in the middle of the night and somewhat still suffering from jetlag.

Gray manages to get out an ‘ahem’ before setting down the menu. Natsu looks at him curiously, an eyebrow raised. “What’s good here?”

Yes. He literally just stared at the menu for five minutes and did not read anything because 1) he may or may not still be suffering from jetlag and 2) he’s too busy mulling through weird things in his head. It’s absolute fuckery.

“Well, you can always stick with the classics; the steak is really good here, but if you want something a bit different, how about some of those chopped liver there? They’re also great.”

He nods a bit too fast and gets back to the menu. Of course, he gets the time to think about things again. How that cat that lounges around the apartment complex is doing right now (he’s been feeding it for months). What happened in the room at the end of the hall a week ago (Gray still doesn’t know exactly what the couple in there did; they were nice, somewhat, though a bit on the creepy side). That girl who slipped her number on a napkin that was below his coffee cup (he’s never gonna call her anyway). This trip that feels so right-weird.

“Gray.”

Gray snaps out of his thoughts and focuses on Natsu. “Yeah?”

“We’re ordering.”

“Okay.”

A waiter soon makes his way to their booth and takes their orders. Natsu orders some new meat dish, it was French, though Gray doesn’t remember its name. He orders the steak.

It gets pretty silent when the waiter goes away. It’s a comfortable silence. Gray hears Natsu get something from his duffel bag as he draws some anime characters on one of the napkins. He’s pretty okay with drawing. At least drawing anime eyes.  That’s all he can ever hope to achieve in the field of art.

“Hey, I got you something.”

He looks up. _Something_ …

“You didn’t need to.”

“I wanted to.”

“Okay. What’s it?”

“I bought you a snowglobe. Of New York.”

Oh. Here he was, expecting something a bit less… romantic… or something less likely to make him remember shit again. Okay, okay, snowglobes can’t be considered romantic by a normal person, but for Gray, it is. First monthsary, a simple snowglobe with a house inside it was given to him. Natsu said he thought of Gray as he passed by and saw the snowglobe. Incidentally, their monthsary was that day. Gray’s birthday, a snowglobe of Madrid. He told Natsu he wanted to go there someday. Christmas, it was a custom-made snowglobe. It had his figurine in it. Valentines’, snowglobe of Paris. City of Love. That one was pretty cheesy, but nevertheless, effective. Then on their first anniversary, Natsu gives him another snowglobe. Custom-made, with the both of their figurines inside sitting on a bench and holding hands. Pretty much most of the gifts Natsu gave him were snowglobes.

“Is it okay?”

Gray nods. It looks really nice. The buildings look well-painted, the “snow” swirling inside makes everything look magical, it’s a nice gift.

“Why…” Gray licks his too-dry lips and clears his throat. “Why give me a gift?”

“Why not?”

He glares sharply at Natsu, though it softens really quickly. “I mean, is there a special occasion?”

“Do we need a special occasion to give gifts?”

“Yes. For normal friends.”

“What if I don’t want to be just ‘normal’ friends?”

Gray opens his mouth to speak, but only gapes at Natsu. What. What is this? He did not prepare for this. This, this is unexpected. He’d braced himself for break-up questions, fights, banters, practically anything but this.

“But I hurt you.”

His voice comes out practically a whisper, something that ideally only he would be able to hear. Yet he knows Natsu heard that. Gray doesn’t want to bring up the taboo subject, he really does, but somehow, his mouth just opened on its own.

“But I forgave you already. I have. Three years ago. I… still love you, even through that. And maybe there’s an explanation why that happened, why you did that. I’m willing to hear it.”

All these buts, they pick at him. There’s too much to take in one night, at 12 midnight. In the back of Gray’s mind, he knows he should be happy. Natsu still loves him. He still loves Natsu. But there, there is that thought: _But I still haven’t forgiven myself._


	5. Explanations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They finally get to the vacation. They go along fine enough on the day, and they learn more about each other than before, but what happens when night comes along and things get deep?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here. Here is a probably averagely-written chapter, because, duh, writer's block. Anyway, sorry that update is slow. I have a lot of things to do at college, so I had to squeeze this between tons of work and so this might have some parts that don't seem to contribute anything to the story, but I swear, there's something there that does contribute. Also, this place in Malibu is completely made-up, though the house is based on a relative's marvelous beach house, which I was lucky enough to sleep in for two nights. The beach is just my imagination, so yeah. Well, here it is. Chapter five.

_But I still haven’t forgiven myself._

Gray stands up. “I need to go to the comfort room.”

He tries to walk to his destination, really, but Natsu’s hand is tightly gripping his wrist. Gray looks down at the pink-haired man. And he feels sadness as he stares into the other man’s eyes.

“Stop running away.” Gray sees the words come out of the man’s mouths, but he doesn’t hear them. It’s almost like his hearing suddenly disappeared. Of course, he can still hear. He just didn’t feel like listening to the words a few seconds earlier.

Natsu finally lets go. Gray practically runs to the CR, though he would like to just describe it as walking fast. He almost slams the door as he beelines for the sink. Cold water meets his face right after, and Gray grips at the corners of the sink tightly, his knuckles white.

He just started thinking that they can be friends. Just friends. Back to where they were before the relationship, except they’re not fighting or bantering every second they can. And then Natsu says all that. If he didn’t know the man, he would have thought that Natsu was joking. But Natsu never jokes about things that are real serious.

Gray looks up at his reflection on the mirror. He looks horrible. Lucky he doesn’t have crusty eyes at the moment. He thinks about how all this appearance shit is so inferior compared to the fact that everything just got complicated right now. It’s not like he’s always unprepared, it’s just he never considered the possibility of _that_.

Water runs down from the faucet, wasted. Somehow, the sound of the liquid hitting the surface of the sink comforts him inside the room. His knuckles turn back to their original color. There’s no use thinking much about it, right? Just tell Natsu that he doesn’t feel that way anymore. That will do it. No, that’s too harsh.

He walks out of the CR with a tissue wiping away water from his hand. Natsu still sits there in the booth, his back facing Gray’s general direction. Okay, he’s guilty. Gray wanted to run away and leave the man here in California just a few how many minutes ago. As if that wasn’t horrible enough, he wanted to ghost the man just cause Natsu dropped the ‘I still love you’ thing just five days after they met again after four years. _You’re a horrible person_.

So, the order arrives in perfect silence, with the waiter somewhat clattering the plates the only sound to fill in. Perfect timing. He doesn’t want to talk, and Natsu is also probably hungry already. In-flight meals aren’t really the best for satisfying an empty stomach.

They eat silently. They wait for the bill silently. They leave the restaurant silently. They get in the cab silently. Everything is so… quiet. And too quiet. And too noisy at the same time. Not only does he hear the radio so clearly it’s almost painful, but he also hears Natsu’s breathing, the almost inaudible shuffling of his feet, and even the smallest of movements. Everything is annoyingly ringing in his ears.

Eventually, they reach the supposedly isolated beach where Natsu’s cabin sits. This, this is a cabin? Two floors with a rooftop? A cabin?! This is a beach house. A really really posh beach house. With a beautiful yet isolated beach around it. The next house is basically a good hundred meters away, and that house was the caretaker’s (Natsu has a caretaker for the beach house), who apparently still works on Saturdays. This is rare in a city, actually. Natsu and his richly rich self.

Of course, he marvels over the glory of their destination silently. His bag goes up to one of the rooms as he plops down the cushion of the bed unceremoniously, his shoes barely touching the comforter. Despite unexpected shit going down, he still felt that teeny (enormous) feeling of disappointment at seeing two (instead of one) bedrooms in the house when they arrived. Everything looks so nice.

Gray lazily nudges one of his shoes to fall off, which it luckily does. He finally turns his phone on, and somewhat gets disappointment when he sees no messages or calls. You know, he kind of (not kind of, really) wants sometimes to just feel like he’s not some kind of guy who only has a couple of close and trustworthy friends at work. Sure, he has close friends outside of the company, but then, they don’t hang out much these days. And at least one message is like a validation that he wants but doesn’t need.

He falls asleep after some time, the bright screen’s light reaching the ceiling.

 

Light comes into view when Gray finally opens his eyes nine hours later, his phone vibrating insistently in his hand. He sits up groggily and winces at the uncomfortable position he just slept in. God, his back feels horrible.

He immediately regrets not changing. He stinks. Literally, Gray’s shirt smells like P.E. period back when he was still going to school. In fact, his pants too. They smell horrid. And that breakfast smells really nice.

Basically, breakfast’s scent made its way up to the room, even with the door closed. Oh my God, he almost forgot about awkwardness in the breakfast table. Which is why he’s here right now staring at Natsu’s naked back (just his upper back, get your mind out of the gutter) and the plate of bacon and hotdog on the side of the stove.

And when Natsu turns around, Gray doesn’t expect the warm and friendly smile the pink-haired man flashes his way (okay, to be honest, Natsu isn’t the person to be cold or anything, but still). He kind of expected even just a small bit of awkwardness, but no. Gray has to get swept off his feet again when he sees that smile.

“How’s sleep?”

“I’m not used to it, sleeping a complete eight hours, but yeah, it’s fine.”

They’re talking like normal again. Great. Really though, they should start talking about shit like last night. There’s still this weird tension that’s as thick as some of that Chinese dessert he ate last week. Thick as fuck.

Bacon and hotdogs come into his line of sight and Gray’s attention span shifts from 298678546476689 years to one second. Honestly, he has to think sometimes how in the world he maintains his abs. But then now that he has time to think of it, how in the hell can Natsu still maintain a fit body with all the things the man eats? Things may have changed, but one of those things is not Natsu’s appetite.

“Where’d you get these anyway?”

Oh, fuck talking about yesterday (at least for the moment). _Yeah, why don’t you relax for a while?_ Gray picks out a hotdog and a strip of bacon from the table.

“The caretaker gave these to me this morning. She knew I was coming so she bought some food beforehand. But this afternoon, I’ll need to get some dinner – wait, would you like to just eat out or we cook our food?”

 _Hm, I would like to see more muscles flexing..._ Somehow, Gray starts thinking of inappropriate things as he takes a bite of breakfast. Not to mention that what he’s biting is a hotdog. Honestly, why. Why is he so dirty-minded?

“I think we should cook our food. You know, to actually savor this beach feel.”

 _Suuuuure_. _As if that’s what you actually want_. Gray takes another strip of bacon. Honestly, this feels really domestic. Like oh, Natsu is cooking breakfast, we’re sitting close next to each other basking in a wonderful kind of silence – wait. Their elbows are touching. So basically, Natsu is sitting next to him without a care about Gray’s PERSONAL space and the pink-haired man is wearing an apron that says ‘Kiss the Cook’. And Natsu is half-naked. And there’s a hotdog in Gray’s mouth. And there’s a small drop of water (that came from nowhere) traveling from Natsu’s neck down under the apron. Gah.

“Does it taste good?”

Gray blinks up at Natsu. What... tastes good?

“The hotdog.”

Oh. He thought out loud a little while ago. What... hotdog?

“The one you’re eating. As well as the bacon.”

Gray thinks out loud again. Wait. Natsu’s asking him to rate the food. Oh. So it’s not _that_ hotdog. Oooohhhh.

“It’s good. Though I can’t really judge because it’s not really the most complicated of dishes.”

Natsu beams that all too bright smile at him, and Gray’s heart beats the heck out of his chest. Why does Natsu have to be so damn cute (and seductive)? It’s too much. These feelings are scaring him. They’re scaring him so damn much.

Gray reaches for his coffee somewhere to his left, trying to calm himself. He’s a coward. Gray can agree to that. He knows he’s such a coward. He wants to try this again with Natsu. He wants to hold the man again. He wants to earn that forgiveness that Natsu gave him three years ago. Gray wants to prove that he’s worth that love. And yet all these thoughts. What if he hurts Natsu again? What if he just disappoints? All these what ifs.

He realizes he’s been staring too long at Natsu and shifts his attention to his food. It’s starting to get cold. Gray shoves a strip of bacon inside his mouth, eating away his worries.

They finish eating and eventually, Natsu goes out, with a towel and a beach umbrella in tow. Gray’s eyes linger longer than normal on Natsu as the man walks by. Gray runs upstairs soon after the door shuts behind him and takes off his shirt. Yuck. Smells too much. He needs to take a bath before hitting the beach. And honestly, he needs to get ready for the sand.

He gets into the bathroom soon enough, with a bit of fumbling with where to put his towel. Cold water hits his head afterwards, and Gray’s singing voice fills the shower stall. Well. He doesn’t have the great great great voice, but he at least has a good enough voice. Which he uses in his concert hall called the bathroom.

“I'm holdin' on a rope  
Got me ten feet off the ground  
I'm hearing what you say  
But I just can't make a sound”

Pretty much, he’s singing Apologize here. Literally, this is what he anticipated to get from Natsu. Or like at least somewhere along the lines of that ‘it’s too late to apologize’. Maybe he’s just too narrow-minded? _Gah. Just sing this shit_.

“They tell me that you mean it  
Then you go and cut me down  
But wait  
You tell me that your sorry  
Didn't think I'd turn around   
And say”

This one verse is hitting Gray too much on the feels. Honestly, when did he get so emotional over songs? It drives Gray crazy that he still has that part of his mind that thinks that this, this is all a joke. A practical joke that Natsu is pulling on him and it involves saying that Natsu still loves Gray and Natsu acting nice to Gray. And then after this weekend, Natsu is gonna say “Joke!” and laugh it off and show him the hidden cameras he had all over the house. Which is of course, impossible. Natsu’s not mean like that.

“That it's too late to apologize  
It's too late  
Said it's too late to apologize  
It's too late”

Gray stops halfway through the song and switches off the shower. He can’t continue ignoring these complicated feelings. He definitely can’t continue ignoring Natsu’s feelings for him. Gray’s just making everything more difficult for the both of them. He knows Natsu. Even if Natsu has changed for the past few years, he knows Natsu’s expressions or actions to feelings.

He takes his towel and drapes it around his hips. Gray stares at his jet-black hair on the mirror. _They need a trim_. He dismisses his thoughts of cutting them now. Gray can do it later.

Gray gets his shit done after a while and makes his way out of the door. He sees Natsu some meters away from the house, the shade of the umbrella covering Natsu’s lying body on the sand. Hot damn. His feet make their way to the pink-head’s position and Gray sits next to Natsu. The sound of the waves rolling calms him, and Gray shifts to a lying position.

“It’s quite nice here.”

Natsu nods in agreement beside him and moves closer. Gray looks down at their touching shoulders, quirking his eyebrows a bit before staring back up at the underside of the umbrella. It feels nice. Just lying there and hearing the ocean and looking up at a multi-colored umbrella. Touching shoulders with Natsu and not thinking about all those emotional shit.

They lie there for a few minutes, before Natsu sits up and looks at the water. “Let’s go swimming!”

Gray obliges and lets the man take him to the water. Natsu immediately splashes him with water like a kid. It turns out “swimming” is splashing water on each other. He smiles fondly at the latter’s actions and plays along. A wave of water hits his thighs lightly as Natsu send another spray of water his way. Gray laughs, even as some water enters his mouth.

Their laughter rings through the beach, the sun shining bright upon them, and the sides Gray’s eyes crinkle with happiness.

 

They retire from the water at around lunch, Gray to the shade of the umbrella and Natsu to the house to get drinks and food for them. Gray sighs with both exhaustion and happiness as he lies back on the beach towel, looking at his arm. Well. He did not get tan like he wanted himself to (but then, it was never really easy for his skin to darken, even just a shade), but at least he had fun.

Gray stretches his legs as he looks at the ocean, his elbows holding up his upper body. Everything is so peaceful. Wonderfully peaceful. It’s just nice to be left in silence and think, even when that time can be short.

“Food’s here. You want to eat now?” A few minutes later, Natsu’s voice interrupts that silence, though it doesn’t make things weird. It’s... a bit like something blending in in the silence – he can’t really explain it clearly.

“Let’s eat now... I’m quite hungry already.” Gray taps the spot right next to him after speaking. Natsu sits down beside him and settles the three plates he had been carrying on the remaining space on the towel.

“I heated the burgers I made this morning,” Natsu informs him, as if sensing the question that Gray was about to ask. Gray grunts and looks at the plate of, well, burgers. Pretty big burgers with a lot of cheese and meat and vegetables and ketchup and mustard and everything nice. He unconsciously licks his lips. Well. Looks like he’ll be eating a lot.

“They look delicious.”

Natsu hums in appreciation at that and takes a burger. “I still have some inside, just in case, you know, my appetite happens. Turns out it’s both our appetites.”

Gray lets out a laugh and sits up fully. He lunges for a burger (as what Gray calls it), his hunger making him takes big bites of the burger fastly instead of enjoying the taste. At least that’s what it looks like for him.

He gradually starts eating the burger slowly, savoring the taste of meat, cheese, and all the other ingredients in his mouth. Gray groans appreciatively. These are not the best burgers in the world, sure, but damn, are they really delicious.

Gray catches Natsu staring at him right after he finishes his meal. It was fantastic. Unfortunately, though, he now is having a mild stomach ache from eating too much. Gah. All that meat is starting to kick his stomach. Anyway. Back to The Stare.

He turns his head to Natsu, the pink-head quickly switching his attention to the still unfinished burger on the plate he is holding – of course, with blushing cheeks. Well, that was fascinating. Gray continues staring at Natsu’s profile, and the longer he holds his gaze the more flushed Natsu gets, the pink almost rivaling Natsu’s hair.

Gray continues until he sees Natsu visibly squirming under his gaze. He lies back down on the towel with a moan that was partly in purpose, because he wants to see the tensing of Natsu’s shoulders, which the latter just did. Honestly, he’s being a tease right now. He knows that. It’s just... new. Back when they were in college, he did not get to do this. They always went straight to making love and shit when one of them was feeling horny, so not much teasing. Now that he thinks about it, they were usually vanilla.

Great. Now _his_ cheeks are flushed.

Natsu clears his throat and stands up with the plates in hand. “Well, I’m washing these now.”

“I can do that. I mean, it would be embarassing if I just sit here and expect you to do all the work, right?”

“Nah. It’s fine.”

“But it’s also kind of boring without you around.”

Natsu reddens hard at that but still manages to walk slowly to the house. “Come along then?”

“What would I do?”

“Well, whatever you’d like.”

 

Turns out “whatever you’d life” is pretty limited. At first, Gray doodled on one of the sheets of paper, usually just eyes and some cats. Then he moved to just staring at Natsu clean the dishes. Well, just staring at Natsu’s back. Still, it’s more entertaining than gliding a pencil on paper. _Look at those back muscles..._ Gray cups his right cheek as he keeps staring, enjoying how the muscles flex from time to time.

Natsu gets done with cleaning sooner than Gray would like, though. Well, he’s a bit grateful they did not wash dishes this morning. Like, what would three plates do anyway? That would give him a minute, which will not even be close to enough to how much time he wants to just stare. _Okay, you’re being creepy_. Gray looks back at the cactus plant sitting on the windowsill nearby. It’s a plant fitting of Natsu.

“Wanna go back outside? I know a cave on the edge of the beach.”

Gray peeks at Natsu – who was heading towards the door – before standing up from the high stool he was sitting in.

“Sure.”

They walk along the shore, the waves hitting his feet a lot. Gray sees the beach umbrella and towel they used earlier abandoned on the sand, since they forgot to bring them back into the house. They walk some more, until the umbrella and towel looked like multi-colored unidentified things. The cave comes into view and Gray spies water rolling inside and coming back out again.

“It’s not really deep or anything, but it looks beautiful inside,” Natsu says in front of him before getting inside. Gray follows, stepping inside. It _is_ beautiful. Even though the walls would look ordinary in a cloudy or gloomy day, today, the ripples of the water and all the kinds of patterns that the small waves cast are reflected on the walls. The water reaches about one-third of the cave’s floor, and Gray sees shells and colored pebbles under the clear water, along with some smooth rocks that the water doesn’t cover – they can be used for sitting around, which is nice.

What catches Gray’s attention though is the view from his position, sitting on the sand with Natsu. It’s not really the type like in a sunset, but from their place there, everything looked superb.

“Wow. You’ve got one hell of a place here. This beach is yours, isn’t it?”

Natsu’s ears go red. “Yes. Actually, this was my dad’s.”

“Mr. Igneel?”

“Yeah. I mean, I was already an orphan since I was a baby. I don’t even remember my parents, so it’s highly unlikely they entrust land to me... if they were rich like this, then why would they even abandon me, right? Anyway... Igneel picked me up when I was three,” Natsu says. The smile that Natsu was sporting morphed quickly into a straight line.

“Oh... I never knew about that. I just assumed that Igneel was your biological dad.”

“Guess we never really talked much about serious stuff like this on college.” Natsu laughs lightly and continues to stare at the horizon. Gray falls silent. They were too quick. Too immature. Taken too much by their teenage desires. They never delved much into the “too serious” things. That was primarily the reason for the failure of their relationship.

“Yeah.”

They stay there for two more hours, gradually resorting to lying on the sand as the afternoon passes by. Natsu lazily trails his fingers on the sand in a back-and-forth motion, Gray humming the tune of I’m Still Standing beside Natsu.

“Let’s go buy ingredients now. It’s getting late.”

Gray flips himself over, lying on his stomach. Lazily, he asks, “What time is it?”

“Three. It takes ten minutes to get to the general supermarket from here. Anyway, we still need to prepare for some things,” Natsu informs him.

Gray groans before standing up. Oh, his front and back are covered with sand. He shakes them off and takes some water to wash himself. There’s still some on his right cheek.

They return to the beach house, this time, with the umbrella on Gray’s arms and the towel slung over Natsu’s shoulder. They change clothes and get out again to the scooter waiting for them. Well, that was owned by the scooter. Natsu doesn’t want to buy a car just yet. Too much maintenance, he says.

Gray takes the helmet Natsu offers him, and positions himself behind Natsu, wrapping his arms around the other man’s waist. Natsu knows his way around here anyway, so Gray leaves the driving to him. The engine roars to life quickly, and as they maneuver through the streets, the air hits his face in a calming way. He savors the moment of just resting his head on Natsu’s back and watching shop windows and people and lamp posts.

They reach the supermarket after some minutes. Fifteen probably. Anyway, as they rounded the meat and fish section, Gray thinks about how domestic they must look. Again. Well, if they were boy and girl. Still, this is domestic already. _I mean, see how we’re buying groceries._ They even “talk” about which type of meat is the best at the most affordable price, if arguing in whispers can be considered as light talking.

A blonde girl turns the aisle in front of them, her cart filled with random things. Gray would have ignored her if it wasn’t for the fact that that girl just actively flirted with Natsu.

“Do you know where the cleaning supplies are here?” The woman was twirling her hair and displaying her flat chest’s “cleavage” – she must have thought she was a D cup when she clearly was just halfway to B – okay so maybe he was being just a _teeny tiny_ (he’s really salty) bit salty. Gray grits his teeth and snakes an arm around Natsu’s waist – wait, just shoulder. He stands there beside the pink-haired man, glaring at the blonde girl – though he was being careful for Natsu not to see it. He knows he still doesn’t have any reason to be this possessive, cause they’re not a couple anymore... but he just feels this uncontrollable feeling of jealousy spiking through him.

“I think it’s there...” Natsu points and side-eyes Gray before walking to the pork cubes. Gray drops his hand that was apparently stuck like some kind of superglue to Natsu’s shoulder for a while and looks back at the girl. She’s glaring at him and dumping some hotdog packs into her cart. Well. He continues staring before the girl pushes her cart to the dairy section and Gray looks back to the meat in display.

Pretty much nothing eventful happens after that, except for Natsu helping an elderly woman with reaching some tomato sauce from the top of one of the many shelves in the store. Gray found it quite endearing actually.

They get out of the store around five – what with them trying to choose between products – with a paper bag on each of their arms. They’ve decided to just barbeque chicken and pork tonight, though other things besides the seasoning and the meat occupied their bag, for instance, some shampoo and soap and chocolate and Doritos and Cheetos.

“You really like to cook,” Gray comments as Natsu tries to find a way to not ruin their things on the ride back to the beach. The scooter is not really the most convinient type of vehicle to ride when going shopping.

“Well, I like to eat, so...”

Gray chuckles lightly at that. That certainly is no surprise.

“All done!”

“Well am I gonna be the one to hold the rest?”

“Yeah. Just squeeze it between us. There’s only a small number of things in there anyway.”

He nods, waiting for Natsu to sit before taking his place. Well if this doesn’t feel awkward. He shrugs and wraps an arm around Natsu’s waist again.

 

They finish with the seasoning somewhere around five-thirty, a tray with a pretty unreasonably large pile of seasoned meat on sticks for four people. The caretaker and his wife are joining them tonight (“... just for some more fun and some thanks for looking after the house,” Natsu had said), which Gray doesn’t know how to feel about. Somehow, Gray wants to feel thankful he’s not going to be alone with just Natsu (because if he is going to be, then he might as well be ready to die) or be really worried about not being able to bring up the “talk”.

He had thought about it. He had a game plan, okay? He had this preparatory shit for this “talk” about their fucking break-up and those feelings. And then somebody else comes along to go and ruin his plans. It’s like betrayal but you never knew the person.

The grill outside welcomes them, smoke coming out from the bars keeping the coals in. It’s those types of grill that required, obviously, coal and matches and a lot of fanning. Luckily there’s not much of a sea breeze, so no smoke is stinging anyone’s eyes anytime soon.

The caretaker and his wife arrive after he and Natsu had cooked at least a small stack of barbeque. The caretaker looked very... cowboy-ish, actually. And so did his wife. Like, those boots and that drape-y thing and that hat. Except for the wife’s green hair. That was another thing.

“Natsu!”

The caretaker, okay, he’ll just call him... Bill. Yeah, Bill. Bill and his wife, he’ll call her Ann, make their way to the grill, Bill waving at Natsu.

“Oh, hi Alzack. Bisca.”

Oh, okay. Now Gray can stop calling them Bill and Ann in his mind. Anyway, they finish cooking the meat, though it’s lessened from all those “nibbles” they snuck in while cooking. Alzack and Bisca start a small bonfire surrounded by some logs that were suspiciously nearby. Natsu gets the marshmallows inside and immediately pops one pack open right in front of the fire and spills those marshmallows inside that pack fall into the fire and Gray groans from the loss. Fortunately, Natsu seems to have an arsenal of marshmallows and walks back to the house to get some more, this time opening them carefully from a good distance. They eventually get to eating those barbeque and toasted marshmallows.

“You two have a daughter?” Gray asks, nibbling on an almost-burnt marshmallow. Honestly, he doesn’t care about whether or not it’s close to getting burnt, because it still tastes nice. Like always.

“Yeah.” Alzack whips out a phone from his pocket and shows him a picture of a little kid, with a braid and all that cowgirl look. “Here. Isn’t she cute?”

“Yeah, she is. What’s her name?”

“Asuka.”

“Japanese?”

“Oh, we just combined my ‘A’ and made Bisca’s name ‘Bisuka’ and took the ‘suka’.”

“Oh...”

They continue munching on their food for some time, talking about random things, like the weather and past experiences.

“Uh, hey, are you guys...?” Alzack suddenly asks, though he trails off at the end. Gray rises an eyebrow and gestures for Alzack to continue.

“Are you guys a couple?”

Oh. _Oh._ So that was why Alzack had been sneaking glances between him and Natsu all through out dinner. Gray opens his mouth to answer, but his voice doesn’t cooperate and instead he gapes like a fish.

Alzack clears his throat. “Sorry, shouldn’t have asked that.”

They remain silent, before Natsu speaks in a tiny voice, “We were.”

Gray turns to Natsu, who is looking down at the sand. He doesn’t know what to do, so what does his helpless self do? He continues staring at Natsu’s profile, the bonfire casting shadows on the pink-haired man’s face.

“Oh,” Alzack whispers across them.

Bisca speaks up, breaking into the suffocating silence. “So, what do you, Gray, do for a living?”

Gray perks his head up and sits straight. He almost forgot there were other people with them. “Oh, I – ah – I’m a programmer specialized with animations and graphics and shit like that... What do you... guys do?”

“Well, Alzack here’s a police officer and I’m a shooting instructor.” Bisca’s voice sounds too chirpy to Gray’s ears.

“Oh.”

“Hey, how about we play some truth or dare? Oh, wait, we don’t have a bottle. And there’s a bonfire in between us. Never mind.”

They settle into a long silence again, the sound of the ocean the only thing to be heard. They go back to random things again, and Natsu talks, but it’s obvious he’s just trying to not make everything uncomfortable.

“Well, we have to go back now. It’s already nine, and Asuka’s babysitter must be dying to get home.”

After saying their goodbyes, the couple depart to their house, leaving Gray with Natsu there outside.

“Hey Gray, can we talk about... about the break-up now?”

 _Okay. You’ve got this. You have a plan_. He nods, and pulls himself closer to Natsu.

“I just want to know things. Our break-up ended with a lot of questions.”

He sighs. It’s awkward talking about this. But Gray has to explain. Because he knows that they need to talk about this.

“Okay... where do you want me to start?”

“Why did you cheat on me?” Everything was in Natsu’s eyes. The pain, the confusion, the sadness, the curiosity. They all spoke to him. Asking him why.

“I... I started hanging with Jilliane after our first anniversary. At first, she was just genuinely a friend. She had a boyfriend. Eventually, they broke up. And we got drunk together once in a bar. The next day, I woke up to me sleeping beside her, both of us naked.”

Gray sees the wince that Natsu makes. Still, Natsu urges him to continue.

“We did not mean it. She also just looked at me as a friend. But then I started thinking I was getting bored with our relationship. We were too busy at uni. I know, it’s entirely my fault. I start thinking about all the interesting things that could happen if I hook up with her. But I never really made a move. I was hesitant.”

“Then the opportunity presented itself. I thought I was happy. So we hooked up a couple more times, usually when I tell you that I’m going to my old friend’s house. But one day, she said, ‘I can’t take this anymore. I don’t want this. I don’t want you ruining your relationship with your boyfriend. I... I was wrong about thinking I want this. I don’t. I’m not happy ruining someone’s relationship. Sorry.’ I never saw her again. But I thought I craved the feeling of the thrill. The thrill of doing something wrong. It was addictive. So I went to a strip club and met a girl named Hannah. She seemed unattached at first, and I was cool with that. I still loved you, but that addiction made me do wrong things.”

“And then one day, I just found myself getting blackmailed by Hannah because I wanted to stop meeting up with her. I realized that I... I was just craving attention, craving attention you did not give me as much anymore. I never liked cheating on you. I liked the thought of you wondering where I was and getting jealous about thinking about girls who might latch on to me and take me away from you and wanting to fight to keep me by your side and then giving me attention when I get back to the dorms. I even liked vanilla, which I thought was already boring. I liked it because it was you, and even when we were rash, we still loved each other. But Hannah, she became too possessive, attached.”

“She threatened me, she said she would tell you everything, and that she would kill you if I stop seeing her. I knew she can never kill you, even if she sends men, but still, something inside me made me dumb and made me think that maybe she can kill you. And so I followed her. I did not realize that you were getting suspicious, and at the end, you saw me with her and broke up with me.”

Natsu is silent beside him for a moment, looking down. Then the man looks up at Gray and asks, “Was that all true?”

“Yes.”

“Then I was also lacking – “

“No... I... I was the one in the wrong.”

Natsu’s voice stops him. “Yes. But we were both doing things the wrong way. I was also partly to blame. Yes, you were cheating on me. I know that was wrong. But I also did not help our relationship. I thought I was doing the right thing, focusing on my studies so we can have a good future together. I was too wrapped up with our future that I did not stop to think about the present. About you. God, I was too careless. I should have seen it. You were always asking me when I was available, to take me out on a date. I always was busy doing extracurricular, so I always turned those down. I... I was not balancing academics and our relationship. I did not do what I should do as a boyfriend.”

Gray stares back into Natsu’s eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too.”

They sit there for a while, and for once, Gray wasn’t thinking about how awkward it is. Because he’s lifted that weight from his shoulders. That heavy, over-bearing weight that was close to crushing him.

“Let’s go back.”

They walk back to the beach house and plop themselves on the couch. The sound of their breathing mingled in the silent air of the house. Their knees touch, but this time, Gray feels sparks rather than insecurity. And he stays there, the feelings of warmth melting into the late night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp. Finally, they get to talking about shit. Can't really say much, but if you can suggest improvements, then let me know, because you can never have too much constructive criticism. Kay, thanks :).


	6. Post-Drama and Things Like Noodles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It shouldn’t look cute, but it does. Even the drool that trails from Natsu’s mouth to his chin looks cute. Which should be at least a bit gross to Gray.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically, this is the chapter that has fluff after all the drama. Let us give them some rest from the Drama Club. Also, that summary's just a snippet from the chapter. Let that be evidence of my never-ending laziness.

Gray sleepily walks down the stairs towards the kitchen, the tall lamp that they left on being the only light guiding his way. Finally, they got around with talking. That had been both exhausting and relieving. Of course, insecurities don’t go away immediately, but at least, now he can stop worrying about things that just emotionally drain him.

The light coming from the kitchen wakes him up a lot, since Gray doesn’t remember leaving the light on. Maybe Natsu’s awake, too?

Turns out Natsu actually is awake. He’s sitting there, back to the door and holding a glass in water. Natsu turns towards him in acknowledgement. Gray nods in return and walks to the counter, getting a glass then taking the pitcher of cold water on the table. Water splashes inside the glass as the liquid pours in.

Natsu stares at him as the glass touches his lips and the water flows down his throat. Gray stares back. There’s not really anything to hide anyway, so why not?

The pink-haired man clears his throat and speaks, “Do you want to go out sometime?”

Natsu said it so nonchalantly, like he was talking about weather. Gray finds he actually doesn’t mind. “A date?”

“Yes, a date.” Another gulp of water.

“Sure.”

Gray puts down his glass on the counter and lets water from the faucet run down inside. Silence creeps its way in again, comfortably blending with the cold night air. He shivers a bit, realizing that he only has a t-shirt and boxers on. Gray looks out the window from the kitchen sink. Well, he’s spending a lot of time here. He intended to get back upstairs after the glass of water. He can go up now, though.

“I’m going up now. You should sleep soon, too.”

Gray pats Natsu’s shoulder and climbs up to his room.

 

“What time’s our flight again?”

Natsu takes a towel on his shoulders before looking at him. “At twelve-thirty.”

“So you found it a good idea to have one last dip in the Jacuzzi before leaving.”

“Yes. It’s only nine anyway.”

The wood of the stairs touch Gray’s feet as they walk up to the rooftop. He only recently got the information that the guy has a _mini pool_ on the rooftop. Small, but nevertheless a pool. As if having a beach house _and_ a caretaker wasn’t enough. Natsu had to get a freaking pool. And on the rooftop.

The sky comes into view, Gray squinting a bit at the brightness. Pots of plants fill the space where the pool does not occupy. A wooden set of table and chairs sit on one side with a plate of burgers (Gray finds he doesn’t mind Natsu’s liking for burgers in the least) in the middle.

“I swear, you’re too rich.” Gray dips himself into the water. Thankfully, there’s something that brings shade to the pool. It’s kind of a roof. He sighs at the calming effect the water casts on him. This might not be so bad.

“I’m not.”

“Right. Says the man who owns a beach house with a pool on _top of it_ and caretaker.”

Gray opens his eyes, only to be welcomed by a _very_ inviting sight. Natsu’s walking towards him with only his boxers on. Sure, he’s seen this so many times, but still. It still looks wonderful. Gray raises an eyebrow slightly at the display. He knows Natsu. This is another one of those things Natsu does to tease him, either consciously or not.

“What?”

He looks back at Natsu’s face, trying hard not to let his fucking hormones get the best of him. So the man’s doing it unconsciously this time around.

“What?” he responds. The firefighter can be really unknowing sometimes, and well, Gray uses that sometimes, when he’s not up for admitting shit. Like now.

Natsu’s brows furrow cutely. “Nothing.”

Natsu gets in the water, sitting beside Gray. The view from where they’re sitting is marvelous. Now he wonders how the hell he never saw the glass – or the roof thing – that keeps the water from the pool, well, in the pool and not crashing down the sand. Basically, the glass allows them to look at the beach below, and Gray even spies a small red sailboat far from the shore.

“This is amazing,” Natsu whispers breathily. The pink-head seems more entranced by the view than him.

“You’ve never seen this?”

“I’ve dipped here a lot of times, I’ve seen this view, too, it’s just… it’s different when you… someone else is here.”

Gray stares out to the ocean. He swears, he heard a ‘you’. A ‘you’ that’s part of a sentence he wanted to hear Natsu say. ‘It’s just different when you are here.’ Well, he can’t always expect things to happen. This here is actually just fine.

“Hm. Hey, I wanna ask something.”

“Yeah?”

“Did you date anyone on, you know, these past years? Just curious.”

Water splashes beside him lightly, and Gray almost thinks that maybe Natsu’s getting up and moving away. Instead, their shoulders press together. It makes him feel warm.

“I dated this guy, Sean, once.” Gray can’t help but flinch. He knows, he knows. It’s just weird listening to Natsu talk about dating another person. “Didn’t really work out. After two date, I had to go and reject him because I felt guilty using him as a rebound. Well, he kind of spammed me with a lot of texts after, but nothing a little ghosting can do.”

“Must have been pretty awful. Had my share of that stuff.”

“Yeah. He texted me some pretty crazy stuff. ‘I thought you loved me’ ‘Was it something I did?’ ‘You’re my everything’ ‘Why would you do this to me?’ Those kinds of things. I guess I kind of felt guilty, but he was really manipulative and literally treats me like I’m a fragile vase that might break anytime. I don’t need anyone like that. I mean, I’m a man, too. If he wanted to treat someone like a girl, then he should have dated someone else. How about you? Any of your exes I haven’t heard about?”

Gray chuckles at the man’s question. “Oh, I have one. I dated this girl Kiera on middle school. She was actually neat on the beginning. But on the third date? She was showing her true colors. The girl was really demanding, like she expected me to take her out on a really expensive restaurant when I took her out for Krispy Kreme on our first date. And once, I was talking to one of my friends, Tricia, and we weren’t even touching, we were just talking about shit like this guy she likes or something. Kiera was all too possessive, going all like ‘Are you flirting with my boyfriend?’, and I was all like ‘Chill, we haven’t even been going out for long and this girl is just my friend’. She ignored me for a whole day and I was actually fine with it since she was being a huge pain in the ass. She came to me the next day being all like ‘Baby, why were you ignoring me?’ and after that, I quit seeing her.”

Natsu laughs, his voice sounding like music in Gray’s ears. “Wow, that’s pretty bad. Still not as bad as that girl you dated for a year and turned out to be lesbian, though.”

“Oh, that. I thought she was some psycho girl who killed guys then cut off their dicks and took their briefs after I went through her bag once. Turned out she cross-dressed in a club.”

“She put the high in high school.”

Gray definitely agrees, considering how wack that girl had been. Setting that aside, he was actually glad when he started dating Natsu. Nothing too weird, nothing that’s too far. It’s just a unique blend of weirdness and charm that keeps Gray from getting too bored or running away. Though at this point, he actually would be just fine with Natsu even if there’s not much of surprises. But then, as if Natsu would stop doing that anytime soon. Now he wonders exactly why he thought cheating was a good idea back then.

“Those burgers are going to get cold if we don’t eat them soon,” Natsu reminds him. Oh, the burgers. Well whatever, Gray’s kind of hungry anyway.

They get out of the water, the moment of watching a beautiful view and talking about random things cut off by their urge to eat. Gray doesn’t actually mind, given that he can see Natsu’s half-naked body in all its glory instead of having to move his neck in a way that it’s not even noticeable that he moved it just to see the other man’s upper body.

This time, Natsu eats more than Gray, which earns the pink-haired man an amused smile. A light touch of the hand here and there. Shameless stares that seem like they last forever. Some things that just pose as evidence of their hormones at work. They go back to just sitting on the underwater seats of the pool and staring out at the horizon.

“Remember how we used to fight so much back then?” Natsu suddenly asks.

“Yeah. I’d never expect that we’d grow up and actually be with each other and not argue about shit all the time.” Gray smiles at the thought. Those were the times he started falling for Natsu. Maybe it was the natural charm that the pink-haired man has that captured him. Or it could be the mischievous glint in Natsu’s eyes and how the guy always gets worked up when they argue. It could be a never-ending list for all he cares.

“You think it’s destiny?”

Gray can’t help but snort, which earns him a cute glare from Natsu. Natsu has always been a believer of things like fate and destiny. While Gray thinks it’s endearing, he doesn’t actually believe in such things. He believes that he does what he wants, loves who he loves, and goes down the path he goes because he chose to do so, rather than let destiny predict it all.

“No. I love who I want to love,” Gray finally says. Their faces are so close, he can feel Natsu’s breath on his own mouth. Natsu leans in, but well, the alarm on Natsu’s phone doesn’t seem to want the kiss to happen.

“Sorry. I set that for ten. I guess we should get ready now.”

Gray looks down at the water. Well. They’ll have time for that kiss. Later. “Yeah.”

 

The ride to the airport consisted of hot weather, a backseat that was a bit smaller what with the bags they dumped in there, and Gray trying to not flush at his and Natsu’s touching thighs. _Stop acting like a teenager, you ass._ Still, his cheeks remain red, and he curses at himself. Of course, Gray reasoned out to Natsu at the beginning of the ride, and as he said it, ‘I think it’s the heat’. He rolled his eyes after. The heat. Wow. Very creative, Gray.

“You two tourists here?”

Gray glances at the driver through the mirror. The guy’s pretty talkative, actually.

“Yeah.”

Somehow, though, he doesn’t feel like talking. It’s just… eh.

“I remember once when me and my wife came here for the first time. Man, was it…”

As much as Gray wants to listen to the middle-aged man’s talk, the words get blocked out and it is only the arm that wraps around his shoulders that fills his senses. That famous move guys pull on the cinema. Only that they’re in a pretty hot cab. The arm feels warm on his back.

They pull up in front of the airport after some more minutes. Luckily, the traffic isn’t so heavy, so yay for that. After all doing all those things you normally do when you’re going on a flight (like waiting in line to get to the baggage counter), they slump on one of the chairs. A few food stalls stand near the chairs, as well as a flustered young mother trying to get her child to stop from crying because her budget’s not up for airport stalls – a lot of food in the airport are actually pretty expensive.

“What time is it?”

Natsu glances at his watch. “11:45. We still have time. Wanna buy something?”

Gray looks around thoughtfully. There’s a small sweets shop there, a convenience store near that sweets shop, and then a few other small shops. He points to the gelato stall a few meters away.

“I think I want something cold. The heat outside is still stuck to me.”

Natsu frowns. “It wasn’t too hot.”

Gray laughs. “That’s because your normal body temperature isn’t the same as mine. You’re naturally hot. No innuendo whatsoever intended.”

The pink-haired man wiggles his eyebrows at that. “Are you sure?”

“Okay. Maybe there was some intended.”

They laugh light-heartedly. Natsu gets up. “What flavor?”

“I can settle with vanilla. But if there’s coffee-flavored gelato, buy me that.”

The other man nods and starts walking to the stall. Gray wonders if this is what they call the post-drama phase of a relationship. If that’s what they call it. Now that he thinks of it, is this whole vacation supposed to be a date or not? Natsu asked him out on a date last night, so does that mean the whole weekend-vacation thing’s not a vacation? Maybe they’re gonna have a date sooner or later? Wait, is this even a romantic relationship now, or not? Because they haven’t actually officially dated yet.

“You seem to be thinking about a lot.”

Gray stares up at Natsu, the latter holding two cups of gelato.

“Yeah. Just thinking about random things.”

Natsu hums as he sits beside the raven-haired man, handing the cup of coffee-flavored gelato to Gray. Gray takes it and thrusts a spoonful into his mouth. They sit there for a few more minutes, with Natsu tapping insistently at his phone and muttering stuff like ‘laggy piece of shit’ and Gray feeling sorry for the pretty fragile looking guy with large glasses sitting next to Natsu. Apparently, Natsu looks too scary for the guy, and somewhat, Gray has to agree, though Natsu is actually a cinnamon (sinnamon) roll.

Gray keeps staring at the back of the seat in front of him, because, obviously, he did not have the mind to charge his phone before going to the airport and now no outlet’s to be seen. A little girl’s staring at him from across the other side of the waiting area with her mother, which Gray finds unnerving.

Well, a solid thirty minutes passes by, and before long, they are boarding their flight. Gray picks a travel magazine from the ones on that container thing in front of him. And of course, it booms out different vacation spots (usually beaches) on a lot of the pages. _Ooh, Maldives_. _There’s another one here. Sounds Spanish. Puerto Princesa. Oh, Philippines. Well, they’re featuring other countries too. Must be pretty good._

Natsu looks at the magazine as well, making expressions as he points through the other locations.

“Japan. Been there. Korea… maybe something more tropical. Oh, Spain. Nah, went there, too. Have you ever been there, Gray?”

“Well, as I said, I’ve been to Japan. Korea, no. Spain, no. Already planning for the next trip?”

The other man hums and somewhat (fake) coughs before turning a bit pink – Gray has to admit, Natsu’s pretty good at hiding the pink on his cheeks. Gray abandons the magazine to get his earphones.

“What are you going to listen to?”

“I think I’d be going for a bit of K-Pop? Not like I’m going into the fandom stuff, but Juvia made me listen to some songs, and I liked some. Wanna listen?”

Natsu takes one earphone and Gray starts to play a song.

“This is actually good. This one’s on the somewhat R&B, synth, and jazz side. Doesn’t sound poppy or anything. Actually a lot different from what I thought you would like. You know, your goth phase back then.”

Gray pales and covers his face. “Oh God, yeah. I was pretty goth back in high school. I still remember back then when I used to go post really sad shit.”

Natsu laughs heartily. The sound echoes in Gray’s ears. “That was quite an adorable phase, though.”

He rolls his eyes jokingly.

“ _Wow_. Thanks for the added support,” Gray says sarcastically.

Another laugh rings inside his ears.

 

Gray wakes up from a fairly okay slumber how many hours later. Sleeping in an airplane is not really the best thing – admittedly, sleeping in any kind of transportation is not comfortable – but at least they’re at business class. He sits up and looks to his side.

It shouldn’t look cute, but it does. Even the drool that trails from Natsu’s mouth to his chin looks cute. Which should be at least a bit gross to Gray. Gray squints at the digital clock up front. _16:48_. Less than an hour until they land.

Natsu shifts to face Gray suddenly, and an arm sails on the air to Gray’s torso. Well, he’s not going back to sleep anytime soon.

 

They talk about stuff on the drive home, with the driver smiling at their debates from time to time. To be completely honest, debates are usually what they call bonding time, as long as that doesn’t evolve to actual fights. Sometimes, they stay at ‘bonding time’ debate. Sometimes (a lot of times back then, actually), debates turn to fights.

And since Natsu’s apartment is nearer, Gray accompanies the man to the door. He’s surprised their houses are actually pretty near from each other. About five or four blocks. The cab’s been long gone.

“You want to come in?”

“What am I gonna do in there?” Gray hears a _click_ as Natsu turns the key.

“You’ll get to see me pour hot water on instant noodles and turn on the TV.”

He laughs at the firefighter’s words. “Well, that sounds good.”

The door opens, Natsu’s hands creeping to the switch to turn on the lights. Gray drops his bag on the shelf on the hallway and stands awkwardly in the living room. Natsu’s place is larger than his own, and more posh at that. A relatively large aquarium takes up the space between two doors at one side of the room. That the carpet is expensive, along with the wall-mounted TV. In fact, he’s sure almost everything in the house is expensive.

“Why don’t you sit on the sofa? Sorry I still haven’t done my supply run.” The pink-haired man smiles sheepishly despite that joke he just made earlier.

“It’s fine. I don’t think I’m in the mood for another long hour of waiting for a meal and eating at a fastfood chain anyway. I’m more in the mood for _sitting in a plush sofa and watching a certain firefighter in his home_.” Gray intentionally drawls out the last how many words.

“Wow, such specificity.” Natsu playfully rolls his eyes as he enters the kitchen. “On second thought, just turn on the TV. I’ll be there before you know it.”

Gray turns on the television, flipping through channels. Well. No one can go wrong with Disney Channel. Or maybe he should go for Fox? Cartoon Network? _Nah. Just go for Disney Channel_. He’s watching some Phineas  & Ferb reruns by the time Natsu sets down two cups of instant noodles on the coffee table. Gray shifts to the side to make room, though the sofa’s plenty big for the both of them.

“Classic. Phineas & Ferb.” Natsu settles on the couch beside Gray. The man’s right arm is once again slung behind his shoulders, Gray notes.

“Can I stay here for the night?”

“You got a change of clothes for tomorrow?”

Gray rests his head on Natsu’s shoulder. “Yeah.”

Natsu raises an eyebrow and says jokingly, “Was this all your plan to get to stay here?”

“Maybe.”

“I’ve got a spare room, so you don’t have to sleep on the sofa.”

“Hmmm. I’m sleepy already and the jet lag’s getting to me. You think I can sleep now?”

Natsu ruffles Gray’s hair before taking a still steaming cup from the table. “Don’t sleep with an empty stomach. At least eat some of this. I’ll go get some chocolate from the fridge.”

The raven-head smiles fondly at the other man’s actions and plunges deeper into the cushions. He hears a door opening and closing behind him.

“Here, have a blanket. The heater’s still under maintenance so it might get a bit cold. And also the chocolate.”

Gray hums, taking the chocolate bars and letting Natsu wrap the blanket around him.

“You’re hot.”

He laughs. “I know.”

“No. I mean literally. You’re hotter than normal.”

Gray frowns at that. Now that he thinks of it, he’s been feeling weird from when he woke up on the plane. “I’m sick.”

“No shit Sherlock. Wait here. I’m going out.”

“Where are you going?”

“To the grocery store nearby. I’m making you some broth.”

“It will probably just go on its own. Don’t worry about me.”

Still, Natsu walks outside.

 

“Here. Say ‘Ah’.”

Natsu raises a spoonful of broth to Gray’s mouth. He looks at the silverware in front of him.

“I’m not a child. I can take care of myself.”

The spoon hovers insistently in front of him still, forcing Gray to open his mouth and let the other man feed him.

“I want to take care of you.”

“You’re such a mother hen all of a sudden.”

Natsu ignores him, blowing at a still steaming hot spoon of broth.

“Say ‘Ah’.”

“Ah.”

The pink-haired man hums contentedly and sets the spoon on the table. Natsu takes the glass of water sitting next to the flower vase and hands it to him.

“Better?”

“Yeah. Even though you insist to treat me like a child. It was actually nice. I never got to see this side of you.”

“Do you want to sleep now? Should I text anyone?”

Gray nods drowsily, curling his body as Natsu sets the dishes aside. Natsu nudges him and helps him stand up, though Gray can stand up well on his own. They walk to the guest room, ending with the pink-haired man tucking him in.

“Do you want me to stay here?”

“Hmmm. Go sleep, too.”

And Gray succumbs to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also I thank the fricking holiday for letting me stay at home and play through a lot sinful gay games. And for letting me have the time to think about shit that goes down on this chapter.


	7. Sick and Jealous and Drunk and Passionate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This, might be just a big filler.

“Here, take this tablet. Swallow it quickly, it’s bitter.”

Somehow, Natsu managed to stay in the apartment, even when Gray kept telling the man to go to his job. Natsu had filed a leave from work for five days, which is, really, unnecessary. Gray’s sure that his fever (and insistent coughs) is going to pass by soon enough. Or so he makes himself believe.

It’s noon now, the day rainy and gloomy and full of thunderstorms. The weather station only said something about rainy weather, not something about hurricanes, so Gray can only hope that that was true. As much as he would like to remain in the living room and watch movies all day long, he doesn’t think a weather more dreary than this would be any more helpful.

“Isn’t this supposed to be the transitional time from summer to fall?”

“I think.”

They’ve managed to laze on the couch for the past hour, pillows behind their backs and a thick comforter on both of them. The heater arrived just in time this morning but they felt more up to snuggling under the comforter.

“I’m going to watch some crime investigation,” Natsu says, reaching out for the remote control.

“Sure. I’m kind of feeling sleepy, but maybe some of that can wake me up.”

A yawn then a chuckle. The channel shifts to crime scenes and real-life stories of people who had crimes committed against them. Still, Gray snuggles closer to the other man, shutting his eyes while he’s at it.

“You sure like to sleep today.”

“Must be the fever.”

He hums and smiles. It’s nice like this. Like they’re a married couple watching some TV. The splatter of rain outside fills his ears more than the voice on the television. He appreciates Natsu’s care. It feels wonderful sometimes to just let someone take care of you.

“Do you want to move to the bed?” A warm, almost hot, hand caresses his cheek.

“You want to join me?” Gray feels Natsu’s smile as the hand moves to pet his hair.

“You really are sleepy. On an ordinary situation, you wouldn’t even let me pet you like this,” Natsu says.

“Hmmm… Let’s just stay here on the couch.”

Gray doesn’t really know what exactly he’s doing. It’s been a while since a fever hit him. And even then, he never had the urge to cuddle anyone. Maybe it’s what you call separation?

 

“What are you cooking?”

“Some spaghetti. Figured you wouldn’t want to always taste just broth.”

The smell of heating tomato sauce fills the kitchen as Gray enters, lazily scratching his head. He isn’t feeling the earlier almost burning heat so much anymore, so maybe his fever has gone down. Gray looks outside. Still as bad as before he went to sleep.

“Don’t drag the comforter around. It’ll get dirty if you go around like that,” Natsu reminds him.

“Oh.”

Gray pulls up the excess cloth and tugs the other two ends of the comforter lower. He continues to watch the weather outside, occasionally glancing at Natsu’s back.

“Hey.”

“Hm?”

Natsu’s face tilts a bit to the side, looking at him but not quite. Raindrops continue to splatter down on the window pane.

“I was wondering… what you saw in Lisanna,” Gray finally lets out.

He watches as Natsu’s brows furrow together at the question. The hand that was mixing around the sauce as it heats has stopped moving.

“Back in high school?”

“Yes.”

“Well, she was really nice and pretty, but at the same time, she had this thing around her. She knew how to take care of someone without making them feel weak. I think that’s what drew me to her.”

“Then what about me?”

Natsu turns to him, the look in his eyes dangerous. Of course, Gray pretends to not see this, opting to look down at the street below.

“You… you were actually attractive, even as a rival. You’re strong, and you had an air of confidence around you that was attractive. I don’t know why, but something about the way you carry yourself makes me even more attracted to you.”

“Who would you have chosen in college, me or Lisanna?”

Gray hears the exasperated sigh from his left.

“What are you going on about, Gray?”

“Can you just answer the question?”

“Of course, I’d pick no one back then. I don’t think I was ready for any kind of romantic or sexual relationship at all when I was in freshman year.”

“Oh.”

A click from the stove comes out as Natsu takes the pan to the countertop. Gray continues to look at the street before him.

“But now… of course, I’d pick you.”

Arms wrap around Gray’s waist, or at least they wrap around the comforter that envelops Gray’s back and upper body. Natsu’s chin settles on his shoulder. Is this still acceptable in their current relationship status?

“Hm…”

“Where did all of this come from?”

“Nothing. Must be the fever and the weather.”

Gray knows Natsu doesn’t believe that. Of course, the man wouldn’t. It’s not that much of a secret between the both of them that Gray has some issues about his confidence in himself in a relationship. Always thinking that he’s just going to kill or drive away the other person. Or something like that.

“You want to eat?”

“Sure.”

 

Gray gets back to work the next day, arriving with a coffee cup in hand and his laptop bag on the other. Juvia starts tugging at his sleeve the moment he enters, asking for juicy details about the small weekend vacation and if the reason he did not come to work the day before is because they did it and he was too sore to walk. Again, he explains to her that, no, he was actually sick.

And again, she insists that her fantasy is the truth. Gray just indulges her and lets Juvia think what she wants.

“Did you spend the night in one room?”

“No.” The elevator dings as they reach their floor.

The blue-head pouts. “Aw… But I thought you were dating now.”

“We haven’t officially went on a date yet.” A co-worker waves at him from the opposite side of the maze of cubicles.

“But wasn’t the vacation already a date?”

Gray frowns. “It wasn’t.”

“So you’re telling me that him asking you to go to a beach in _Malibu_ , with _only_ the two of you, wasn’t a date?”

“That was friendly.”

“Riiight.”

 

At exactly three in the afternoon, right on his break, Natsu calls Gray. Just to say hi. What the actual. He almost drops his phone on his coffee as it buzzes in his hand.

“Hey.”

“Hey. You wanna talk about something?”

Juvia shoots him a look as Gray sits on the lounge chair. He mouths to her Natsu’s name. Oh, she mouths back.

“Nothing. Just wanted to say hi,” Natsu says from the other end.

“Well, hi.”

“Do you want to go out on Friday? Me and some guys from the station are going to Mystique that night, I thought you might want to come. That is if you want. I mean… never mind. You might have a lot of work going on that time.”

Gray chuckles at the man’s awkwardness. “Sure. I would love to.”

“Really?” The excitement in Natsu’s voice ripples through the cellphone. Juvia moves her hands around from across the coffee table, seeming to try to convey a message to him. He shakes his head.

“Yeah. So is it a date?”

“Do you want it to?”

“Well… yeah.” He scratches his cheek in bashfulness. Now they’re acting like teenagers.

“Oh. Um. A date then.”

“Yes.”

Natsu laughs at the other end. The sound chimes in his ear.

“So… should I hang up now?”

“No. Just let me hear your voice a little longer.”

“Wow, _so_ straightforward.”

“What can I do?” He might not admit it, but he loves the man’s sudden personality shifts. One second, bashful, and the other, confident.

“Alright. I think your break’s gonna end soon.”

“How did you know it was my break?” Curious.

“Juvia took a picture of your schedule and sent it to me. That girl has my number, I’m surprised. Though her move kind of makes me jealous...”

“What?” Well, he’s not all that surprised Juvia gave his schedule to Natsu. But wait, how did she know where to find Natsu and what he looks like? Gray senses the woman’s stalking skills at work here. Also, that last part was not all audible…

“Oh, uh, nothing. Gotta go now. Bye. Love you.” Oh. Oooh. Well, that was a bit unexpected. Presumably because their date’s still later. But then again, Gray sees nothing wrong with that. In fact, he feels this really nice warmth seeping into him when his mind replays the statement.

“Oh. Uh. Yeah, bye. Love you, too.”

Gray stares at the cellphone in disbelief after hanging up.

“You’re red,” Juvia comments.

“I noticed.” He touches his cheeks. They’re burning.

“Well, how did it go?”

“Good. Actually – wait, you gave him my schedule!” He’s not exactly furious. He just doesn’t know what to feel about that. It’s kind of good but also… bad?

Juvia gives him an apologetic look. “Okay, I’m sorry about that. Still, though, I heard something about a date. So… are you going out this week? Friday? What are you going to wear? Are you going to match? Where are you going?”

The blue-haired girl literally squirms in her seat as she asks him the questions. Gray’s learning a lot about never talking about anything in front of Juvia that will make her go from seemingly normal girl to some papparazi eager for juicy details.

“I don’t know, it’s called Mystique.”

“That’s a good one, though not the best. But then again, if you want to get into the really VIP ones, you’ll have to get to the club by ten to get inside by ten-thirty or something.”

“That’s an awfully long time.”

Juvia stares at him, confused. “What do you expect?”

“At least ten to fifteen minutes? That’s what happened in college.”

“Well, I don’t know. It’s just different now.”

Gray gulps down another mouthful of coffee.

“You think it was okay when I said ‘I love you’, or not?” Juvia must have heard it if she also heard the date part.

“Ooooh, you said ‘I love you’?” Okay, so maybe she didn’t hear after all. “You are developing, my dear friend… hm, I guess it was okay. He said it first, right?” She pauses to look at Gray. He nods. “How did he say it, though?”

“I guess he said it with a lot of bashfulness?”

The blue-haired woman giggles. “Oh, he likes you _soooo_ much.”

 

Fast forward to Friday, skipping the parts where he worked and worked and worked and almost believed he has crippling depression, Juvia accompanies Gray to some local fashion chain help him with his incredibly “crucial” date. “I am sure he will love you with this.”

Gray stares at the baby blue dress shirt. And looks back at the mirror. The fabric clings to his body almost a bit inappropriately. Well, yeah, since his muscles are basically obvious even with the shirt on. Gray tucks in the shirt even more.

“Is this expensive?”

“Well, fairly. But don’t worry, I’m gonna pay half if your wallet can’t take it. Oh my god, I wonder what your date is going to be like. I wanna know!”

Juvia yanks a blazer from the set of hangers dangling at the side.

“You’re acting like a mother watching her baby take its first steps,” Gray comments, with a sarcastic roll of his eyes.

“But, like, I never saw you date in college, so now I wanna go and see it happen. Besides, you sound like you’re so in love with each other, and it makes me want to just see everything happen in front of me.”

Gray stares into the mirror again. Well, it looks great. Though isn’t this kind of really formal?

“I’m going clubbing. Last time I went to a club, I was wearing just a white shirt and skinny jeans and sneakers. Does this look okay?”

 “Well, if you know anything about clubs, it’s that everyone else who is not your friend won’t even look at your direction if you’re wearing really weird clothes for the place. They’d look at you for your visuals, and even by then, everyone’s still dancing and some drunk decides to drop their glass on the dance floor and prevent anyone from taking their heels off and probably some people would be doing live porn in the dance floor. Don’t worry about it.”

Gray laughs at the last part. Even if he doesn’t go to clubs often, he’s heard way too many cases of couples just shamelessly grinding and dry-humping under the lights. It would be really something around the lines of weird and interesting if he sees those.

“Isn’t this a bit tight?”

Juvia taps his shoulder. “That’s the point. Seriously, as much as I love you and friendship and things like that, you really should learn to at least dress in a special way on places like, I don’t know, the bar or a friend’s wedding or something.”

“What’s wrong with my regular suit? It’s always clean, and fine.”

“Yeah, and you wear it on a daily basis. Don’t get me wrong, you dress stylishly compared to the other guys at the office. But this is a date. _The_ date.”

“He’s with his co-workers,” Gray replies.

“So? That just means he wants to show you off. Your collar’s not straight.” The woman reaches up to Gray’s collar and tugs at it. “There.”

“You’re going all motherly all of a sudden,” he comments, staring at the mirror. The outfit definitely hugs his body. Gray almost feels embarrassed, except for the fact that he can actually appreciate the style. It’s nice.

“Gray, you’re like my best friend. I know that my stalking back then was creepy and I used to be so crazy in love with you or whatever, literally, I was crazy, and I know that was really freaky, but like, now that I got out of that phase and managed to become friends with you, I want to really be, you know, caring. A caring friend.” Juvia breathes out a light-hearted laugh.

“Wow, that got serious real fast. Okay, seriously, though, you’re better than the girls at the office. I mean, Sherry’s fine, along with some other girls there, but the rest is just plastic and a lot of them are shamelessly pining for my boyfriend. Or you. Or, in fact, any other attractive guy in the office.”

“I get what you mean by plastic. Pretending to be nice and all, but they’re really crazy.” He slips on his shoes. “Do I look really wonderful now?”

Juvia laughs. “Yes. I’m sure he’ll love you.”

“Thanks, _mom_ ,” Gray says with a smirk.

“Hey, I’m not that old!”

“Yeah, yeah. Now I gotta go and pay for this and go home and take a bath before your boyfriend sees you and me and burns me with his glares.”

 

Around ten o’clock, Natsu drives by his apartment, with a jet-black Audi. The girl living right next to his apartment whistles as she stares down from the hallway to the parking lot with him. _Oh God_. Natsu has always had this knack for being flashy. Tonight, the man was wearing a checkered three-fourths shirt, and blue. And Natsu knows about his undying love for the color.

He finally gets down and walks towards the Audi, staring sharply at Natsu. Man, Natsu’s even gelled up his hair a bit, and as Gray climbs into the front seat, he notices the fairly tight white pants Natsu and the fragrant cologne he is sporting.

“Your co-workers?” he asks while Natsu leans towards him to fasten the seatbelt.

“We’re meeting at Mystique later.”

“Where is this Mystique anyway?”

The engine starts. “It’s across the city. That’s why we’re leaving now.”

“Is it really good?”

“Yeah. We’ve been there a couple of times.”

“I really should get out more. Most nights, I just play video games.”

Natsu laughs, revving up the engine. “Wow. I thought you’d still be the life of the party, like in college.”

“ _You_ were the life of the party. I was like somewhere close to that.”

“That might be true. But hey, video games are also great.”

Gray smiles. It’s true. Video games are goddamn great. Even if some storylines are basically baseless. Games let you at least immerse yourself in another world, the world inside a game. You know, when you’re just sick of the actual world. Not like he is. Still, it’s helpful in some ways. For now, there’s still the bright lights of Mystique to look at.

They get there near eleven, the place open already. And even though it’s still a bit early, there’s already a line waiting. Thankfully, though, Natsu got them bottle service, they (Natsu and him and Natsu’s co-workers) get inside the club.

“Woah, this place is loud.”

Supposedly, the DJ’s still setting up at this time, but as soon as they enter, music blasts into their ears. The bar also has its own share of people already that are either flirting to the pretty – wait, Mirajane works here?

“Mira’s working here?”

“Yeah. Didn’t you know?”

“I just outright assumed she’d be working at the more popular ones.”

They walk to their table, and Gray notices the other three guys with them. What were their names again? He knows Macao, the guy being Romeo’s father, but the other two…

“Oh, I forgot to introduce you! This is Jet – “ Natsu motions to the guy with the, um, spiky tied hair…? “ – and this is Droy. Droy, Jet, this is Gray.” The pink-haired man looks to the direction of the other man, looking just as distinct as his companion, with that… seedling-shaped (???) hair.

“Hi. Nice meeting you.” He’s sure he’s seen them before…

“Hey, man. Nice suit.” Droy says, or at least, that’s what Gray understands from the loud music.

“Oh, and of course, Macao here.” Macao raises a hand in acknowledgement.

Jet speaks up. “So. Do you think I can score with any ladies here?”

“Given your horrible pick-up lines, I’d think not,” Natsu says jokingly.

“Ehhh? But I’m good at those. Anyway. I’m going to bring back a girl at the table later. Be prepared!”

“Just as long as you don’t start a porno here, we’re good!” Natsu manages to shout back.

“Wow, you guys. By the way, how’d you get us bottle-service? That costs a lot,” Gray asks, trailing a finger around in a circle on Natsu’s hand.

“Mira helped. Partly. The price for this actually pales compared to the most VIP seat here. You planning on getting drunk tonight or what?” Natsu reaches for a bottle of vodka from the bucket sitting on the table. Transparent liquid starts to pour into two glass goblets. Classic. Girls in tight dresses walk by their table, then a guy with about five girls beside him, then some leather jacket guys.

“Sure, why not. I hope you can hold your alcohol.” Gray takes a glass in his hand.

“Oooh, says the one who probably hasn’t gone inside a club in years.”

“Hey! I went to a bar once last year.” Gray downs a drink at that. “See?”

“You definitely haven’t lost your tolerance. But we’ll see.” There’s that look in Natsu’s eyes again. That seducing and mischievous look.

“Oh, we definitely will see.”

Macao coughs beside them, Droy long gone into the dancefloor to follow Jet. “I think I’m going to just sit here and drink. This old man won’t be reeling in girls anytime soon.”

Gray laughs. “You can still get some there, though. You sure you don’t want to get in there?”

“Well, I think I might. Though I’m pretty sure that’s just your way of getting some time alone with Natsu.” The blue-haired man wiggles his eyebrows at the both of them. Gray feels heat creep into his cheeks. Thankfully, the club’s not really the most well-lit place.

“I think we’re both plotting that,” Natsu replies, slipping Gray a wink. He feels the heat increase even more, and he can’t help but punch the other man’s shoulder lightly.

“All right, love birds. I’m going into that crowd. I swear, I love you guys, but I just can’t handle all the sappiness.” Macao pretends to gag in front of them, causing them both to laugh.

“Yeah, yeah. We get that a lot. Now go, before we start making out and gross you out even more.”

“Kid, that’s not the worst I walked you in on. Anyway, gotta get in there!”

They watch Macao walk away from the table before looking back at each other. “So, you want to drink or you want to make out?”

Gray scratches his chin in a joking manner before saying, “I find that a very hard decision. How about… hmm, making out after every drink?”

Natsu draws closer to him, their mouths and chests almost touching. Gray inhales the musky cologne the firefighter is wearing, shuddering a bit at the intoxicating scent. Natsu speaks, “Aren’t you eager. But who am I to refuse such an _enticing_ idea?”

“How about we start that now?” Gray pulls away and drinks down all the vodka he poured for himself. “Come on, you too.”

Natsu grins back at him, before taking a small drink himself. He takes his time to drink it all, the liquid sloshing inside the glass as he twirls it around. It leaves Gray’s eyes hazy, as the blue orbs follow the motion of the goblet.

“We can’t just be drinking and kissing here, let’s also talk. After all, this is a date. If I wanted to make out, I’d invite you to my house.” The lazy grin on Natsu’s face makes the man’s voice sound even sexier. Gray bites his lower lip.

Still he obliges, speaking, “So…” His hands wander to Natsu’s shoulders, his fingers trailing up the man’s biceps. “Any new stories to tell me?”

“Oh, a fire broke out in one of the apartment complexes downtown. Anyway, there was this old lady who was trapped on the third floor. She was nice, until I refused to save all her ten cats. I mean, she was insisting on it! She was willing to go and risk her life for her cats! I mean, I get it, she wants to save her only current companions in life, I respect that. But there was no time, since the fire’s already spread to her bedroom’s far wall. Man, she was glaring at me the whole time I was carrying her out of the building. It was both funny and weird and kinda sad.”

Natsu finishes his story before gulping down the rest of the vodka. Gray’s tongue darts out to his lower lip. The pink-haired man leans towards him again. “Now, about that kiss…”

“Yes, that kiss,” Gray whispers before pressing his mouth against Natsu’s. Their lips open almost immediately, not wanting to let the kiss end just quickly. It was slow yet passionate, as their tongues lazily move around and sometimes flick at the other. A tingling sensation starts to form in Gray’s groin.

They part reluctantly, saliva trailing between them before they look back at the still dancing crowd.

“That must have been interesting or weird to anyone who saw that,” Gray manages to get out, touching his lips, the warmth of Natsu’s lips still lingering on his.

“I think I agree.” A warm, almost hot hand wraps around Gray’s own.

“And that was my first kiss since college. I’ve almost forgotten how another person’s lips felt like.”

Natsu looks back at him. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

The firefighter scratches his cheek with a finger bashfully. “Good, cause I’d be jealous.”

He just chuckles lightly, sliding closer to Natsu. “You can be so cute and sexy at the same time. I should be the one jealous. Those girls were fawning over you before we kissed.” Gray nods to a groups of girls giggling by the bar.

“Oh, you know I only have eyes for you. My _sweetie pie_.”

“Oh God, please stop! Gah… my ears will bleed!” Gray laughs and pretends to be suffering in great pain, covering his ears and shaking his head.

“Oh please, you’re just as cheesy as me.” Natsu smiles and pulls Gray closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol let's just give them a vacation from drama and all that crap.


	8. Hangovers and Unexpected-Almost-Best-Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wherein basically Natsu gives wonderful advice and Gray's just all like 'how did he do that'. To sum it all up, I'm absolute shit at summaries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so lazy haha lol it's summer break and I'm still lying around who am I kidding. A little advertising here but anyway, y'all should read All Eyes on Me by Kizuna_Auri (if you're comfortable with a cam boy fic and shit like that and basically it's got a lot of porn so yah) it got me addicted. There's also i know my madness by astoryaboutwar, the fanfic got me on the feels man. And if you're looking for even more angst, then there's On My Love by RikoJasmine. All are YOI fanfics. Lol sorry not sorry for that.

_Click_. Light fills the small living room of the apartment. Gray stumbles drunkenly at the doorway, with an arm around Natsu’s shoulder. The pink-haired man shuts the door behind him before looking around.

“Hey, where’s your bedroom?” Natsu nudges Gray’s arms. Gray raises up his head, murmurs out a few words, and droops his head back down. And practically shoves his hand under Natsu’s shirt. _He’s drunk._ Natsu turns a blind eye and continues dragging Gray with him.

“Never mind. I’ll just find it.” They cross the living room, with shuffling footsteps and garbled words from Gray. Natsu opens the door to his left. _Oh wow_. The room is messy. Really, really messy. Clothes-dumped-on-the-bed kind of messy. Random-unknown-matter-on-random-surfaces kind of messy.

“Okay, um, yeah. Let’s get you to your couch for now.” They go through with the uneven steps again, Natsu trying to get Gray to lay down on the couch. Gray groans as the soft cushion hits his back.

“I’m going to sort some things out in your room, okay?”

“Hah…” Gray feels warm, hot, in fact. There’s a pink blob hovering right in front of him, speaking. It looks a lot like Natsu’s hair… Maybe it’s Natsu? The pink leaves his line of vision, and Gray reaches out towards whatever direction it just went. “Wait…”

“Hm? Are you feeling well? Are you okay?” A warm hand caresses his left cheek – though he doesn’t really know where left or right is. Gray nods and opens his mouth to say, “I want… you… here… right here.”

“I’m just going to clear your bed, okay? Don’t worry, I’ll be back.”

The hand leaves his cheek. _Ah..._ _Come back._ He hears distant footsteps from his right, and some muttered words. What is Natsu doing?

Natsu tosses a shirt into the drawer, another shirt, then a pair of boxers, then some socks. Still messy as always. A pair of pants get shoved into the laundry basket nearby. Natsu hears Gray groan out something in the background. It almost makes him bolt up to his feet and get to the other man.

At least, soon enough, the bed gets cleared out from all its pieces of clothing. He looks down at the sheets. Okay, now this is something Gray can lie on.

“Hey… you still awake?”

“Barely…” Gray tries to open his eyes fully, but his vision is just full of blobs. A pink blob, a black, blob, a white blob. Nothing.

“Yeah? Come on, up. We’re getting you to your bed.” An arm wraps around Gray’s shoulders again. It’s so comfortable. Like he could stay right there for a little while.

“Okay, just a few more steps.”

He nods weakly, trying to walk as straightly as he can manage. _Ah…_ Keeping himself upright is like a challenge. A really big challenge.

Soft cushions touch Gray’s back as that supporting arm leaves his shoulders. He groans. “Don’t leave…”

“Don’t worry, I’m just going to go and clean you up. You reek of alcohol, you do know that?”

“Yeah… I think so…”

“Go to sleep now, I’ll take care of everything.”

Those are the last words Gray hear before his eyes close shut and sleep overtakes him.

 

Gray basically wakes up to the smell of something cooking. Oh God, the pain. The hangover has him reeling on his side. But setting that aside, _the food_. The heavenly smell of that food – whatever it is. Gray looks down at the clock at his bedside. Twelve. What time did they leave?

Still clutching his head (he’d expect he’d still be able to hold his alcohol, but apparently, even his experiences in college can’t save him from the nasty hangovers), he thinks about how he should have eaten a lot more of the pizza they bought before going to the club. At least it was only vodka.

“Head hurting?”

A plate of sizzling tofu greets him as Gray takes a seat on one of his stools. Oh, and another plate of fried chicken. And a glass of water and some ibuprofen. Oooh, a tall glass of orange juice, too. Gray nods at the previous question.

“Yes. Hurts like a bitch.”

“Yeah. My head’s hurting a bit, too, but I bet it’s not as bad as yours.”

He just snorts. Yes. And all the idiotic things he did last night. He almost covers his face at the recap his brain decided to play. Seriously, his hands! What the fuck. _Oh, and Gray, remember that ‘don’t leave’ and those needy thoughts you were thinking._ Fuck. His cheeks are getting hotter.

“Anyway, I used your kitchen, I hope you don’t mind.”

“Oh, it’s fine. Thanks for the pain medication, too.”

“Yeah. I knew you were really drunk last night. I also cleaned up a bit, don’t worry, I didn’t move anything that I knew you wanted in that certain place.”

“Thank you. I swear, I need to have you here more.”

Natsu’s lips quirk up. “Was that an _invitation_?”

Gray smiles. “Do you want it to be one?”

“Oh, I would _love_ it to be.”

“Sure. An invitation.”

Natsu hands him a fork and a spoon with a wink. Probably a wink that promises more moments later. “Alright. Now let’s eat the food before it gets cold from all these flirting.”

 

“Good afternoon!” Juvia’s cheerful voice echoes through the hallway, and Gray looks left and right before glancing inside the apartment. Natsu lounges in his spare t-shirt and shorts (thank Natsu for bringing clothes into his car) on the couch, flipping through channels. The firefighter raises an eyebrow at him.

“Uh, hi, Juvia. What are you doing here?” he asks.

“Lyon’s mad at me…” Juvia looks like she’s just about on the verge of tears, and Gray knows exactly how loud Juvia can be when she cries. He herds her right inside.

A series of facial expressions from Natsu greets him just as soon as he locks the door and faces the living room. However, he doesn’t get the chance to explain, since Juvia decides to immediately positions herself right next to Natsu on the couch.

“Lyon’s mad at me! I mean, he keeps ignoring me at home, _and_ he’s being nice to that girl he knows I hate so much. And he _always_ sides with me. I don’t even know what I did!” Juvia’s oh-so-perfectly manicured nails noisily tap on the table at the side of the couch. Gray feels himself getting even more and more disturbed at the noise. Well, at least, the sobs don’t seem to be coming anytime soon.

“Oh, by the way, you guys don’t mind, right? Like, you weren’t about to do anything… you know... with each other?”

Gray glances back at Natsu. They shake their head. Nothing in particular. Except that the weird sexual tension, that wasn’t supposed to be there, was getting to them and they were just about to pounce on each other. It’s fine. Gray’s a _good_ and _understanding_ friend.

“Anyway, you guys, you’re men. Do you know anything – anything at all – that could have made him mad?”

“Maybe he wants to make you jealous?” Seriously. Besides his intern years with the guy, he never actually got to have any friendly times with Juvia’s boyfriend. There’s also the fact that he never got to see Lyon in a relationship before, or even show any kind of interest in any girls – or guys – at all. So he had assumed the guy was asexual or something. The point is, given his knowledge of the man, Gray’s not the best person Juvia had to go to, to seek advice.

“Nope. It’s not in his character to do that. And he sucks at acting, so if he ever attempts to do anything that goes against what he really feels, it’s painfully obvious that he’s faking it. At least for me.”

“Oh.” See. He absolutely knows nothing helpful. Gray glances nervously at Natsu. Okay, he has to send some sort of mind waves to the pink-haired man. _Help. SOS._ Well, yeah. He needs the most obvious ones.

“Well, did you go see any other guy this week? By see, I mean just you and that guy alone together.” This time, it’s Natsu who speaks. Gray breathes out a small sigh of relief. One that Juvia doesn’t hear.

“There’s Gray – that was friendly, by the way, I helped him with your date – but I don’t think Lyon was around. And anyway, he knows that I only look at Gray as a friend – at least now – and he trusts me, even if he doesn’t trust Gray. Oh, I also ate out with some friends of mine. But that’s not just me-and-a-guy-alone thing.”

“Well, did boys come?”

Okay, now Gray’s feeling a bit out of place. Should he go and make drinks or…?

“Yeah, duh. I’m not really the kind that only makes friends with people of the same gender.”

“Did you get cozy with any boys?”

“Well I have this guy I’m close with and I’m pretty touchy with people who are close to me.”

Natsu gives him a quick somewhat-worried-somewhat-possessive (Gray doesn’t really know what to call it, so yeah) look before getting back to his conversation with Juvia again.

“Have you ever introduced these people to Lyon?”

“Only the girls. He doesn’t know I’m close with the guys. He can get possessive, so I didn’t bother.”

“Well, he misunderstood.” Natsu triumphantly sits back and relaxes against the couch.

“Wait, what?”

“He probably saw you with them and then thought you were cheating on him. Probably.”

Well, that was quick.

“So… do I make juice or what?”

 

Juvia ends up eating dinner at his apartment. Mainly because Natsu has probably become her fastest almost best friend in minutes. Or seconds. And as much as it physically hurts Gray to admit it, he’s feeling _a bit_ jealous here. He’s out of place. Duh.

Aaand here it goes. Like, Gray doesn’t understand shit here. Did they just make up their own inside jokes in, what, the span of two hours? Tofu makes its way into his mouth as he watches the man beside him and the woman in front of him converse more excitedly than teenage girls talking about Justin Bieber.

It also doesn’t make sense. Sure, they’re both possessive people, but that must be their only similarity. Right? Because as far as he knows, Natsu always picked his starter Pokemon to be a fire type. And Juvia always picked the water type. Don’t ask him where he got that, but he knows. That may not be much, but it’s Pokemon. He still trusts Pokemon to this day. Natsu is a night owl. Juvia is a morning person. Juvia drinks orange juice in the morning, saying that juice is healthier than coffee. Natsu drinks coffee like its water. Natsu loves meat. He probably has a black hole in his stomach just especially for meat. Juvia is a vegetarian. That’s exactly why he chose to heat the leftover tofu from lunch instead of buy pork (oh well, at least he still has the fried chicken). There are a lot of other things that Natsu and Juvia absolutely have nothing in common with. So why, in two hours, did they become like closer friends than Gray and Juvia have been for two (or three?) years?

“I know! You should listen to them. I swear, I’m mad Gray only let you listen to them once!”

Gray hears his name and almost gets whiplash. “What?”

“She was just telling me about her favorite group in K-Pop,” Natsu replies. Well, at least he’s having fun.

“Oh, K-Pop. You’re into that now?”

Natsu bites his lower lip guiltily. “I checked out some introductory girl groups. TWICE, BLACKPINK, that kind. They’re pretty. Not that sure about musicality on some, but it works. Besides, they have dope choreographies. And they’re pretty.”

“You said that twice. So they’re pretty… really? They are?”

Juvia claps a hand against her mouth. “Oooh, Gray’s jealous.”

He almost drops the pan he was washing. What. That’s not what it is (it is, actually). “What? No! I’m just asking if they’re actually pretty! That’s all!”

“The pitch and volume are rising~” Juvia teases.

Gray blushes harder. He turns off the faucet and starts to scrub the pan vigorously. It has dirt. It really has dirt. It has a lot of dirt. A lot of black stuff that are not supposed to be there. Of course, it needs the washing. He’s not embarrassed. No, not at all. He just felt like scrubbing this frying pan is more important than talking to Juvia and Natsu and showing his feelings and embarrassing himself – _gah_.

 

“You’re going already?” Gray can’t help but show his disappointment. Yeah, yeah, it’s like, ten in the evening and he should really steal some sleep, BUT he guesses he’s just greedy.

“Yeah. It’s pretty late already, and I’m sure both of us need sleep.” On point. Really on point. And he still disagrees.

“Why don’t you just sleep here?” It’s not that kind of invitation. Okay, maybe it’s a bit of _that_ kind of invitation. But it’s definitely pure (at their age, they should be _way_ past that stage, but whatever), mostly. Gray can sleep on the couch, Natsu can sleep on the bed. Or they could share the bed, and then sleep. Or they could do other things.

“Nah. Besides, what would I change into tomorrow? I can’t just go around in your clothes.”

The mental image. The mental image is killing him. Natsu, in _his_ clothes. Boxers, to be precise. Just boxers. Or maybe with that cute blue sweater to match. _Stop_. _Alright, Gray. Time to let it go. Think of… uh, Elsa. Right, Elsa. Let it go. Ugh, that’s cringy._

“Yeah, you’re right. Call me when you get home?”

“I’ll do that. Sleep well, okay? Goodnight, bye.”

The door closes. Closes after Gray stares about ten seconds after Natsu has gone down the stairs. Thank God the complex is only three stories tall. And thank his practical ass for choosing the second floor instead of the third (there were no available apartments in the first floor at the time).

The _ping_ , or whatever you call that sound that you get when you get a notification in your phone, snaps him out of his dramatic-leaning-against-the-door-and-thinking-about-his-love-interest moment. It’s a text from Juvia.

 **Received:** Is he staying there?

Don’t ask Gray why that’s her name on his phone. Juvia put it in by herself. He replies a quick ‘no get your fantasies out of your head’. Shortly after, another _ping_ follows.

 **Received:** Awww… you’re such a kill-joy. Seriously, when are you guys gonna do it?

 **Sent:** i wont tell you man go to sleep already will you

 **Received:** I’ll just ask Natsu. Sweet dreams~

Gray shakes his head.

 **Sent:** dont disturb him srsly

Oh well, gotta wait for that call now.

 

Sunday afternoon, and Gray was just about to go outside and buy himself some ice cream when somebody knocks on his door. The knocking continues as he grabs his wallet from the table.

“Wait a minute!”

He opens the door to find a red and sweating Lyon. Yesterday, it was Juvia. Now, it’s her boyfriend. Seriously, what is with this couple?

“Can I talk to you?”

 _No, you cannot. Excuse you, my ice cream is more important than your love life troubles_. He doesn’t say that. He does say this, though: “I was just about to get some food. You want to talk it over ice cream?”

He knows it’s kind of highly inconsiderate because it’s unusually hot outside for this time of the year and Lyon looks like he’s about to get burnt from all that red, but then, that’s exactly why Gray’s going out to get ice cream. So yeah, he’s going to be inconsiderate right now.

And so they spend the next minutes in awkward silence on their way to the nearest convenience store. Gray tries to entertain himself with looking at kids playing under the heat of the sun and whistling a tune that was long stuck in his head. And when that doesn’t work, he shuts his mouth, Lyon still not speaking.

There are a lot of shit that goes through his mind. Random, really. Like, _ah shit, I’m hungry_. Or _man, I wish Natsu’s here_. _What is it now?_ That kind of thing.

“How’s it going?” Lyon asks suddenly.

How’s it going? How’s it fucking going? Holy shit, Lyon came here to ask that?

“I’m fine.” Wow, this is awkward. He sees the convenience store a little more than a block away. Oh well, he’ll just indulge Lyon on his small talk.

“Did Juvia go to your apartment yesterday?”

Oh, ok. So this is his real purpose. Seriously, though, there’s nothing wrong with that, right?

“Yeah.”

“Good.” Well, that was unexpected. Gray expected possessive Lyon going all asking what she did there.

“You know I trust you, right?” Lyon asks again.

No, no, he doesn’t. In fact, Gray’s always almost positive that Lyon has an absurdly large amount of distrust directed towards him. Duh, his glares. And frowns. And the fact that he always seems to get closer to Juvia everytime Gray is around.

“I don’t.”

“Well, you should know. I know you only look at Juvia like a little sister. You know, I may not show it, but I trust you with Juvia.”

Oh ho ho. He knows exactly where this is going to lead to. That problem yesterday. Ha.

“Okay. So, what exactly is your point here?”

“Listen, can you, uh, just watch out for, you know, other guys that might make a move on Juvia?”

“What, you haven’t talked yet?”

Lyon stops halfway through eating a spoonful of the dessert.

“What do you mean, talk? She went home yesterday and went straight for the guest room. She didn’t even sleep in _our_ room. I couldn’t talk to her.”

“I just assumed you would talk as soon as she gets home. You know, resolve your little lover’s quarrel and stop bothering me with your problems. That kind.” Whoo. That was officially the longest he’s ever spoken in a conversation with Lyon.

“Oh.”

“I don’t know what advice I should give you, man, but can you just trust her? She loves you, she’s really loyal, I don’t think she’d cheat on you or anything.”

“Oh.”

Yeah, oh. It was getting annoying anyway. It’s kind of like Lyon doesn’t trust Juvia. And, well, Juvia also somewhat doesn’t trust Lyon. This couple. Seriously.

Gray finds the two cuddling in the lounge the next day. He almost feels sorry for the uncomfortable-looking woman (who might be Lyon’s co-worker) sitting on the chair right of the couch. Keyword: almost.

 

Natsu Instagram DMs him the moment Gray’s feet touch the floor of his apartment. As if anyone actually texts these days. The internet is more convenient.

 **Received:** How was work? J

Gray smiles as he takes off his shoes with his free hand. So refreshing. He quickly types a reply.

 **Sent:** Not really that great, but at least Juvia and Lyon have made up. You?

 **Received:** No fires, thankfully. Holy shit, though, I swear, Juvia called me Saturday night just after I got home and she was crying.

Well, crap. Those two really need to work on each other’s trust issues.

 **Sent:** Anyway, it’s a bit unfair that you know when I’m free and I don’t. I don’t really wanna be imposing so can I just know when you’re regularly free?

He looks at the phone screen for a few seconds before panicking at the message he sent. Did he come out too aggressive? Did he come out too aggressive? But that doesn’t bother Natsu, right? They dated before, so surely, he knows that Gray can be aggressive, right? _Eh, eh, what to do if he thinks that-_

A notification pops on top of the screen.

 **Received:** Yeah, sure. I’m usually free on Wednesdays and Sundays. But let me just send you my work schedule. Or at least the one I made.

A picture of a table for a schedule pops out just as soon as he finishes reading the message. Gotta check that out later.

 **Sent:** Um, oh wow, you didn’t have to send your schedule to me. But pushing that aside, where do you get a lot of money anyway? I mean, I’m sure you get a decent pay from being a firefighter and being an instructor and you have your inheritance, but surely, those still would run out, right?

 **Received:** I actually have a business.

 **Sent:** What? Woah, I didn’t expect that. What do you do?

 **Received:** It’s a toy store. You know I love kids. It rakes in a good amount of money, too. Add that to frugality for four years and my inheritance and you can fly off to a lot of places at times.

 **Sent:** Haha I guess I haven’t been saving up then.

 **Received:** Maybe I should show you my store some other time.

 **Received:** Hey how about we go on Sunday?

 **Sent:** How about Wednesday afternoon?

Gray doesn’t mention that he just really wants to see Natsu sooner. _Ditch Sunday, it’s too far away._ _Hey, that actually rhymed._ He gets up from the sofa, phone still in hand. Damn, he’s thirsty as fuck. _Lol, for Natsu?_ Gray should really learn how to shut up his out-of-control brain.

 **Received:** Sure. As long as I get to see you.

He slams the glass of water he just got from the fridge down against the table. Before it hits the floor and breaks. God, how can Natsu be that forward? It’s killing Gray.

 **Sent:** You, stop being so forward.

 **Received:** Sorry, is it weird?

 **Received:** Am I bothering you?

 **Received:** Is it weird?

Three consecutive quick messages. He can’t believe the sudden shifts Natsu has. Exactly how can he go from confident to insecure (or bashful or cute)?

 **Sent:** Nope. I was joking. It’s quite cute, really. Damn, this is why I don’t like texting.

_Forward. Forward. Tell him your thoughts._

**Received:** Oh.

 **Received:** Do you want to just FaceTime?

 **Received:** Or call?

 **Sent:** FaceTime.

A half a minute later (or maybe five minutes), he’s staring at Natsu’s face, which, to be honest, still looks like absolute perfection (Gray might be biased, okay, but Natsu still looks, well, handsome). Gray spies his thumbnail at the corner of the screen. Is that his hair? It looks messy, way messier than when he left the office. And his lips are chapped. In fact, he just looks dry.

“Hi!”

Gray winces at his voice. It sounds so chirpy. Like he’s a cheerleader that apparently is cheering for the winning team. Or like a boy that still has not hit puberty. Either of the both.

“Hi. Wow, this is weird. I’ve never used FaceTime before.”

Aaaand Gray’s just about to melt from the sheepish smile Natsu sends his way (or at least to the phone). _Why do you have to be so cute? And hot?_

“Yeah, me, too. I like it, though. It’s better than calls.”

“I like it, too. I get to see you.”

And so, Gray proceeds to melt into nothingness and do absolutely nothing productive until eight.


	9. Pizza and Cheesiness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a lot of pizza involved and a lot of walks. Also, someone shows up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does anyone here know 2Moons the Series? I'm advertising, blah blah, but I giggled and fangirled more on that series than any K-drama I've ever seen. Also, if anyone here has watched Red Balloon, should I watch it or not? I've been trying to decide over that for weeks now.
> 
> P.S. Sorry for the slow update guys.

They go out again on Wednesday night. It’s not like they were even planning to. Gray was craving for pizza and he doesn’t have the delivery number of any pizza places in the whole city (which is strange because he can literally marry pizza if Natsu wasn’t in his life). So he went down to the place a few blocks away. And then Natsu was there, too, ordering food.

And here they are. Sitting in a booth and commenting on the fancy decoration on the restaurant (should he call it a restaurant? It looks like a restaurant). Small talk.

“The lighting is neat,” Gray points out, tugging on his sweater’s sleeve under the table. Natsu nods.

“Yeah. And the cushions here are comfy.”

“Hm. They are. Look at that aquarium there. The joker fish looks lonely.”

“It doesn’t have a Dory,” Natsu replies.

“Hey, that rhymed.”

A brief chuckle fills the booth before silence overtakes them. Gray stares back at Natsu’s eyes, hand closing and opening under the table. Why are they having this again?

“I missed you,” Natsu tells him.

Gray doesn’t bother to point out the fact that it’s only been three or four days that they haven’t seen each other, because Gray knows that he himself did miss Natsu on the course of those days. Even when they talked a lot on the phone. The words that Natsu just said causes a tingle to run down his spine. Gray insults himself in his mind for that.

“Me, too.”

Somehow, he can’t say the words themselves (probably his tsundere side at work again), but Gray at least expresses how he feels. He can’t help but laugh inwardly at the realization that they’re doing this after they met coincidentally. His brain and heart’s all like, ‘we weren’t ready for this’.

They remain in that position for some time, holding hands on the table (which makes Gray’s ears turn redder) and, well, staring at each other. It’s cheesy, really, them saying things like that like they can’t stand to be apart from each other even just for a small number of days and staring into each other’s eyes and having their fingers laced together on top of a fancy wooden table. It makes Gray feel warm inside.

A waitress coughs beside their table, looking pointedly at their hands. Natsu smiles at the woman. Gray feels him squeeze his hands tighter.

“Right. Your pitcher of iced tea. Aaand a bucket of chicken and a loaf of garlic bread. Your pizza will arrive in a few minutes… the Hawaiian and the pepperoni, right?” Her eyebrows quirk up at their orders, probably judging them. Nevertheless, she sets the food atop her tray on the table. “Enjoy.”

Gray feels well aware of the hand holding his. He stares down at it. Huh. Holding hands. When was the last time his hand felt this warm?

“Oh!”

The screen of Natsu’s phone illuminates the man’s face as he stares at it, squeezing Gray’s hand a bit on the side of painful.

“What?” Gray peers over the table. Did something happen?

Natsu shoves the phone right in front of Gray’s face. _It’s killing me_ , he thinks, what with the phone’s brightness probably at its highest setting. He tries to look at the blaring screen, only to see two people – who he assumes are David West and Tristan Thompson – basically in a weird kiss.

“NBA? Is this Game 5?”

“Yeah.”

“They kissed.”

“Focus on the scores, not on the mouth-to-mouth.”

Gray glances down at the ‘129-120’ on the screen. “Warriors won! Oh, hey, I won the bet!”

“Exactly. Ah… I don’t have cash now,” Natsu groans out, fishing through his pockets. “Nothing. I only bought my credit card.”

“Hey, it’s fine. You can pay me later.”

“Besides, even if you can’t pay me with money, you can pay me with something else,” he whispers across the table (voice not too small for Natsu not to hear him), adding a wink just for an extra touch.

Natsu stares at him with a blush slowly blooming on his face. “Did you just… wink?”

“I did.” There’s a trace of pride in his voice at the fact that he just managed to _wink_ at Natsu. Most days, he’d blush and reject the mere idea of even doing something quite _forward_ like winking at someone. It’s like stamping the words ‘I LIKE YOU’ on his forehead.

And at such a moment again, the waitress appears.

“Your pizza, Sir…s.” And again, she keeps staring at their fingers that apparently still haven’t untangled from their earlier position.

“Uh… thank you.”

“Enjoy your meal.”

They do release each other’s hands, with all of their food on the table. Gray’s pretty sure the amount of food they have is enough for people to judge them. _And then you add the hands to that, and boom._

“They’re not really all that bent on pretending to be cheerful here, are they?” Natsu asks while placing a chicken drumstick on his own plate.

“I don’t mind it, though. I’m not much for people sounding really chirpy, anyway. The crispy skin is _sooo_ good.”

Natsu laughs, taking a bite of his own piece of chicken and telling some jokes over the table. The jokes are corny, but Gray still laughs with Natsu. A waiter drops by their table from time to time, asking them if they want dessert, in which the firefighter nods every time despite Gray’s efforts in stopping him.

“Your metabolism is as fast as ever, isn’t it?” He comments, lazily twirling the straw in his iced tea around.

Natsu chuckles. “It’s not really as fast. It’s just that I always exercise since my job pretty much requires me to be strong enough to carry people around in case someone gets trapped in a burning building.”

“Yeah. I guess you need to be strong. I visit the gym more often now, too.”

“Heh. Wanna work out together every Saturday?” The pink-haired man asks before grabbing another piece of pizza.

“Are you asking me out on a date?”

“Yes, I am.”

Gray finds himself blushing. Blushing down to his neck. He guesses he’s always had a thing about the air of confidence Natsu exudes at times, times like this. It makes Gray’s pants feel uncomfortable…

_Stop. Decency, decency. You’re eating chicken right now, not Natsu, so get your mind out of the gutter._

“You’ll be the death of me.” It’s a mutter, really, so he hopes Natsu doesn’t hear it, but of course, that’s like wishful thinking, because the pink-head still hears him, earning Gray a proud smile from the other man.

 _What a great way to boost his ego._ Not that Gray’s complaining.

“And _you_ will be the death of me.” It’s exactly the same thing that Gray just said, except it was spoken in a probably lower octave, making the black-haired man feel tingles down his spine. Yes, he’s definitely right. Natsu _will be_ the death of him.

Natsu changes the subject, something Gray’s thankful of, because honestly, he doesn’t want to turn into mush right then and there. Really. They talk for a lot of minutes more. A lot more minutes than they should, really, because they’re both done with food and now they’re just sitting around and using a table without ordering anything.

They get out of the place at 10. Gray wonders exactly how they stayed there for two hours. They head to Natsu’s place. However, they don’t get there without an interruption. A woman’s frightened cry cuts through the comfortable silence that both of them have sunk in. They look towards the direction of the sound.

In a dark alleyway, they see two figures, that of a woman and that of a man holding a knife in his hand. Gray exchanges glances with Natsu before running towards both people. And luckily, they manage to get there quickly enough, with just a small wound on the lady’s shoulder.

They try to persuade the man to stop, but when that doesn’t work, a punch had to land on the man’s skin. Which makes him run away, still clutching the knife he didn’t put to use. Gray and Natsu are thankful he hadn’t.

“Are you alright now?” Natsu asks the shivering woman, apparently still in shock about what happened.

She nods, wide eyes staring at her rescuers’ faces. Gray finds it pitiful, really. Almost pathetic in a way he’d sneer at if the woman wasn’t just almost molested.

“You should be more careful in places like these… but why are you walking around places like these?” He tries to sound gentle. He really does. But tough love is what he’s always known, and that’s what he’s really only shown.

She stares at him, lips trembling, but doesn’t answer. Natsu clicks his tongue at Gray and flashes the latter a dirty look. Gray shrugs. And Natsu sighs.

“We should get you home. You might encounter more people trying to violate you.”

The woman nods again, clutching Natsu’s arms in a weak attempt to make herself feel more secure. Looks like they’ll be taking a detour.

 

“It’s weird, you know,” Gray comments on Saturday while jogging on a treadmill next to Natsu.

Natsu hums, doing push-ups on an exercise mat. They had arrived probably ten minutes ago, thighs tingling from the morning walk they engaged in. The gym’s the nearest around, but even then, “nearest” is actually a kilometer away.

“What do you mean?” the pink-haired man grits out as he reaches his nth push-up.

“Shelby. The girl in the alley on Wednesday,” he replies. Ugh. His breathing. _Inhale, exhale, inhale, ex-_

“What about her?”

“She – well, I noticed she was carrying a knife with her in the alley.” Gray huffs out a pant, setting the treadmill to a slower speed until he’s just walking on it and not jogging.

“A knife?” Natsu frowns up at him in confusion. The man stops his push-ups and sits on the exercise mat.

“Yeah. She had a knife on her jacket’s pocket. Which I found really weird because if she had that, couldn’t she have at least dealt some damage to the man and then run away? Right? The knife also looked sharp, and it was just reachable in her pocket.”

Natsu remains silent. “Well? What do you think about that?”

The pink-haired man’s mouth opens and closes. _Like a gaping fish_ , Gray thinks to himself. _A cute gaping fish._

“Maybe she was… shocked. Paralyzed from shock that she wasn’t able to think about the knife in her pocket. That could be it, right?” Still hesitant, Natsu speaks. And Gray has to admit it, the other man just spoke good enough sense into his mind.

“Maybe. I guess it’s too early to judge her.”

“Yeah.”

They resume the earlier conversation they had, about coffee and when it’s best to drink it. They don’t really agree on a lot of things, but that’s normal, so he feels relaxed. Gray watches Natsu speak, memorizing the way the man forms words.

They make small talk occasionally after they go to the dumbbells, most of their attention being held by the weights they’re using. Especially Gray. He just realized exactly how long since he had last gone to the gym. Probably since forever.

“That was taxing. Should we eat at In n’ Ou – wait no. That will just make me gain weight. Where do you wanna go?” Gray asks Natsu after they have made their way out of the place. Sunlight hits his skin, and he hisses instinctively, expecting painful heat. He blinks up and thanks God or Buddha or Allah or the Big Bang or whatever or whoever made it autumn now.

It’s slightly colder, though, but nothing he can’t handle. He was raised in Western Alaska. The ‘summer’ there would probably be autumn or days before first snow in New York city.

“How about my place?” Gray watches Natsu look up at the sky. He just noticed this now, but just a few burns peek out of the firefighter’s shirt as Natsu stretches his arms up his head.

“Yeah, sure.”

He walks backwards, smiling and staring at the pink-head. Natsu gives him a questioning look before smiling back. It’s like they’re talking with only their eyes, and no matter how cheesy it is for Gray to say that to himself in his mind, the connection feels warm. The small quirk that Natsu’s lips do as they walk past a park says ‘ _I’m glad to be with you right now.’_

Gray knows for a fact that the blush that crept up his neck after that said _‘Me, too.’_ and an additional _‘I love you.’_ must have also been sprinkled in between that.

He continues walking backwards until he had to look forward because of people and cars. His hands remain in his pockets, though he looks at them from time to time. The black-haired man spies down at Natsu’s hands that are dangling down the firefighter’s sides. He wants to hold them in his.

A few seconds pass with him looking at Natsu’s hands before one of said hands moves and grabs his. A strangled sound of surprise makes its way out of Gray’s mouth, and he looks at Natsu in question. Natsu smiles at him, then looks back to the path, swinging his arms back and forth.

Ah. The crinkles beside Natsu’s eyes say _‘I know you wanted to hold them so I made the first move.’_

_‘I’m glad.’_

 

“You guys are so gross,” Gray says to the couple sitting in front of him. What the hell did Juvia call Lyon again? Fairy rose puppy glitter boo? That just sounds like an experiment gone wrong.

Natsu swats him on the arm, giving him a look that says ‘Just let them be.’ He looks back at Juvia and Lyon and wrinkles his nose at the scene. He should have really learned from the past. _Always_ , when the two make up from a fight, they would go and be sappy and call each other ridiculous names and just make Gray want to leave.

A waitress stands at their table, placing a platter of spaghetti on top of it along some pizza, hamburgers, and Coke. She looks apologetically at him and Natsu, glancing from time to time at Juvia and Lyon. See, even the waitress feels sorry for them.

“Thanks for the food.” Natsu reaches out for a slice of pizza almost immediately, probably having also given up on the couple and just decided to eat.

“Hm. Thanks for the food.” Gray mimics Natsu’s actions and pours Coke into the glasses provided.

Luckily, Lyon comes to his senses ( _Bless you, Lyon_ , Gray telepathically says to the man) and suggests that he and Juvia eat before the food gets cold. And thus, Gray and Natsu were spared from dying from too much sappiness.

“Oh, I almost forgot. One of my girl-friends is holding a party next Saturday. It’s good, right? Anyway, we’re all done with our projects by that time and I think Natsu’s free on Sundays, so there won’t be any trouble.”

“You… know Natsu’s schedule,” Gray says flatly. Juvia smiles at him and says, “Yes. How am I going to set you guys up if I don’t know your schedules?”

He raises an eyebrow at that, but doesn’t say anything more. Curious.

“Oh, Shelby, hi!”

Gray snaps out of his spaghetti-turning trance and looks up to find Shelby by their table. What is she doing here? As far as he’s concerned, the girl lives a good six blocks away from where Gray lives and that’s probably more than a half across the city from where they’re eating at right now.

“Hello. You eat here a lot?” Shelby asks, seemingly only to Natsu. Juvia catches Gray’s eyes just as he looks back in front of him. She wriggles her eyebrows at him and throws a look at the girl who just arrived.

‘I’ll explain later,’ he mouths to Juvia. The blue-haired woman nods conspiringly.

“Can I sit with you? I can order my own food, don’t worry.” Gray’s eyes flit around the table. There’s no more space, it’s a four-seater. He was about to point that out, but Shelby pulls a chair from another table and places beside their table.

“Oh, don’t order your own food. I’m sure we ordered more than enough for everyone.” Surprisingly, Juvia’s the one to say these to Shelby. Gray feels a buzz against his thigh and opens his phone to find a message from Juvia. _We’re literally a table away and she’s texting me,_ that’s what he thinks to himself.

 **Received:** It’s better to know her motives now rather than later.

He glances across the table to the woman. Her eyes are gesturing towards Shelby. Nothing interesting, really. She’s just sitting there with a burger in hand.

 **Sent:** what motives

 **Sent:** i dont see her doing anything wrong

 **Sent:** what do you mean

Juvia kicks him lightly under the table.

 **Received:** It’s what you call a woman’s instinct.

 **Received:** She’s just shady, I tell you.

 **Received:** I bet she’s a stalker. As they say, takes one to know one. Trust me.

Gray side-eyes the subject of their under-the-table texts. Nothing looks wrong about her. She’s just talking to Natsu, not even touching. Conservative clothing, no miniskirts that suggest that Shelby might be one of those girls who say ‘I’m heartbroken and I want my closest guy friend to comfort me. Comfort me possibly in my pants’, not even any make-up as far as he can tell that is meant to say that she prepared to meet Natsu.

 **Sent:** i see nothing

Shelby even talks to him, asking him about his job and what games or applications are coming out from the company the remaining part of the year. She talks to everyone, actually. Talks to Juvia about make-up and K-pop boy groups, which Gray just blocks out from his ears. To Lyon, she gushes about how she loves his YouTube channel (a gaming channel).

Juvia must be overreacting, he concludes. Gray swallows down the terrible little feeling of doubt he just had a few minutes ago. Like a pill. The girl is sweet. That’s what it is. She’s a sweet girl who probably just wants to be friends with them. Too bad he decided on that too soon, or else he would have seen her stares.

 

“Did you think there was anything strange about Shelby tonight?” Gray asks as casually as he can manage, his hands tucked neatly inside his coat’s pocket, though he’s not even chilly at the very least. Natsu averts back his attention to Gray from staring up at the night sky, which is actually lacking in stars tonight.

“No. I don’t think so. Why?” He keeps gazing forward as they walk along the sidewalk. A lamppost flickers faintly while they pass by it.

“Nothing. Juvia was telling me about a woman’s instinct and how Shelby seems suspicious.”

Natsu frowns down at the ground. “How is Shelby suspicious?”

“I don’t know, really. She seems harmless. Maybe Juvia thinks Shelby will steal Lyon from her?”

The other man shrugs, shivering under the coldness of the night air. “Maybe. But did Shelby even talk much with Lyon?”

“Not much. I think she was talking more to you and me, a little bit more to you… do you want to have my coat for now? It’s not cold for me, anyway.”

Natsu nods wordlessly, shrugging on the coat that Gray drapes over his shoulder. The firefighter asks, “Aren’t you even a little cold?”

He laughs and tilts his head back to look up at the night sky. “This is kinda like summer for me.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, Alaska. But isn’t this even a bit cold for you?”

“It’s cold, yeah. But I’m used to it. This time of the year is wonderful for me. Mainly because summer’s too hot for my skin and spring still feels like a normal summer in, let’s say, somewhere that’s not really as hot as a city.”

“I’m still cold,” Natsu complains. It might seem annoying to someone else, that the pink-haired man’s telling him that he’s still cold after Gray has given him his coat, but Gray finds it endearing, how the firefighter’s nose is colored pink.

Gray slips an arm around Natsu’s shoulder, blushing and keeping himself from looking even at Natsu’s direction. Natsu’s body heat is still felt by Gray, even though there’s fabric between his hand and the other man’s skin.

“Ah, it worked,” Natsu sighs, snuggling closer to his arm.

“You sneak,” he teases and nudges playfully at Natsu’s side. The other man chuckles, swatting his hand away at the same time.

“Oh, you like it.”

Gray’s cheeks heat up at the words, because, yes, he does like it. He likes it when Natsu does things that makes Gray do things he won’t normally do or shy away from. Refreshing is what he’d call it, maybe?

A finger trails up and down Gray’s side, the one that’s closer to Natsu’s. He can’t help but laugh and shudder at the same time as the touching continues.

“Okay, stop. I’m also sensitive there, you remember?” the black-haired man chokes out, both laughing and shaking.

“What if you get hard right here in public?” Natsu breathes against his ear, voice sinking down to a deeper octave. He shudders again, obviously turned on, even though there’s not really a lot of people around. Damn it, his exhibitionism kink.

“Damn it.” The curse comes out whispered, mainly because Natsu is still letting out hot breaths on his neck and ear. The pink-haired man snickers, almost sadistically, and pulls away.

“Alright, alright. I’ll stop. Unless you want to do it right now?”

“Natsu!” he exclaims, hitting Natsu’s shoulder as he glares at him. Natsu raises his arms up in surrender, still laughing. The pink-head can be sadistic at times, which Gray can’t really deny liking. Still.

“Okay. I’ll really stop this time.” Gray glares at Natsu, still suspicious. The firefighter hugs him tightly around the waist.

He huffs out a scoff before unwrapping Natsu’s arms around him. “Fine, fine. Yeah. Let’s go now, the train station’s near.”

“Are you forgiving me?”

Gray rolls his eyes and smiles down at Natsu, who still insists on settling his cheek against Gray’s stomach. “I’m not childish.”

Natsu pouts up at him. “What do you mean by that?”

“Nothing!”

“You sure?”

Sighing, he cups Natsu’s cheeks and brings the man’s face up. Gray kisses him briefly, Natsu’s slightly-chapped lips brushing against his own under the light of another lamppost.

“There. Better?” Gray whispers against the firefighter’s lips.

Natsu sighs, clutching the programmer’s sides. “Better.”

The whole train ride, the firefighter keeps touching his own lips, marveling at the tingling feeling the kiss left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp I'm running out of fanfics to read can anyone recommend anything? Just as long as it's in the following fandoms: Fairy Tail, Yuuri!!! on Ice, One Piece, KnB, SnK, Haikyuu! and One Punch Man. I'm fairly open-minded so any ship will do. Thank you ^w^.
> 
> Also, fellow K-Pop fans out there, what's up?


	10. Ridiculousness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is this what domestic life feels like?

“I wanna sleep at your place,” Natsu sleepily whines to Gray as they get off the train. The firefighter had snoozed off on the ride home, though only for a few minutes.

“What about your place? It’s closer,” he suggests, still trying to keep Natsu from falling asleep in the middle of the train station. A woman bumps into him while he distractedly pulls the other man with him, and Gray’s glad she doesn’t glare at him or anything and instead just says an insincere ‘sorry’ and steps away from them.

“I like your apartment more… it has your scent.”

Gray stops to call a cab, trying to ignore those last statements Natsu made and tapping the pink-haired man’s shoulder, pinching it a bit. Natsu wakes up a little bit more, shuffling into the back of the vehicle and settling down with a groan.

“Seriously, stop saying things like that, it’s unfair,” Gray states to the other man, slamming the door of the cab and glancing at the driver. He speaks. “I’ll tell you where to stop.”

Natsu snaps fully awake beside him, looking around. “We can walk.”

“Yeah, if you weren’t busily snoozing yourself off a minute ago.”

“Can I sleep again?” Natsu asks again.

“No. It’s only a five-minute ride. Now, it’s probably four.”

“But can I sleep at your apartment?” The firefighter is poking insistently at his shoulder, probably just bored.

“Yeah, you can. Where are you going to sleep, though? The bed or the couch?” Gray inquires and traces circles on Natsu’s thigh.

“The bed.”

The driver’s eyes are directed to them, Gray notices now. He’s just staring at them. Gray ignores it.

They stare out the windows for a couple more minutes before Gray tells the driver to stop and drop them in front of his apartment.

“I like this place,” Natsu casually comments, taking the key from Gray and walking up the stairs. The light is dim on the way up and he wonders if anyone is still awake in the complex.

“Well, I like your place. It’s bigger than mine and generally just better.”

“Wanna live together?” the other man suggests in a teasing tone. Gray swats at Natsu’s ass lightly, glaring at the firefighter.

“Stop being such a tease, would you?”

‘Never,’ Natsu mouths back at him, winking. The bastard. Well, luckily, they arrive at his door sooner, which just saves Gray from further slapping anybody’s ass. As if anyone else besides Natsu is around anyway.

Gray hands the keys to Natsu. The door opens along with the light turning on and they get inside. It’s messy. Well, not really much of a mess, but still. He hasn’t cleaned up in what, like a half a week?

Oh well, they’re too lazy to clean up at this hour anyway, so Natsu just walks to _his_ room and Gray to the couch. Except that Natsu drags him to the bedroom instead of letting him even take a step to his planned sleeping place.

“You said you were sleeping in the bedroom.”

Natsu stares at him, confused. “Yeah. With you.”

Now it’s Gray’s turn to look at Natsu dazedly. “I thought I’d sleep on the couch. Because, you know, I thought you were going to sleep on the bed. Alone.”

“Well, you’re sleeping with me tonight.” The man looks at him firmly, looking like he won’t let Gray say otherwise.

“You’re lucky my bed’s for two people… what you said just sounded wrong,” he tells Natsu.

A tongue sticks out at Gray. “Get your mind of the gutter, Gray.”

“You phrased it like that, it’s not my fault,” Gray reasons out.

Natsu tuts at him before pushing him out of the room and leading him to the bathroom. He hands a toothbrush to Gray. “Get ready for bed now. I’ll go and clean up the bed.”

“Aren’t you going to brush your teeth, too?” he asks, applying toothpaste on the bristles and turning on the faucet to let the water run on the toothpaste.

“Do you have a spare toothbrush?”

“No. But there’s a convenience store beside the complex, remember?”

“Alright. Just so I can kiss you in the morning.”

Gray _almost_ drops his toothbrush, flushing scarlet and sputtering.

“Oh my god, will you stop?!” he shouts across the apartment before he hears the door close. He sighs to himself, thrusting the toothbrush into his mouth and brushing away.

He finishes brushing and returns the toothbrush back into its container. Walking around, he picks up a few pieces of litter just lying around, throwing those into the trash can. It’s so quiet. Gray wonders if he just woke up any of his neighbors with that shout.

“I’m back~”

Natsu walks into the living room just as Gray’s about to walk into his room.

“That was fast,” he says, peeking out of the doorway.

“I ran.” Well, obviously, given that Natsu’s sweating way too much in an autumn night.

“Go take a shower, you’ll make my bed stinky,” Gray tells him, shooing Natsu to the bathroom.

“Oh, it’s not stinky already?” the firefighter quips as he gets led around. Gray rolls his eyes, although smiling, walking out of the bathroom.

“You don’t want to shower with me?” Natsu asks again. A towel lobs the pink-haired man’s face as Gray’s reply.

A few more seconds of standing around his bedroom door and Gray hears water running into the bathtub. It takes him a few minutes to change before he plops down into the bedsheets, staring up at the ceiling and thinking random thoughts in his head. Because, duh, his phone is totally not in his pocket and just waiting for him.

Speaking of, said phone vibrates against his thigh. He gets it out of his pocket. Ugh, that brightness is hurting his eyes. It’s like the sun is in his hands.

 **Received:** Care to explain to me why that girl Shelby was there tonight?

It’s Juvia. He starts typing.

 **Sent:** she was about to get raped and we came in just in time to save her

The sound of water rushing down stops.

 **Sent:** i’ll talk tomorrow i need to sleep

Natsu enters the bedroom. No, there was absolutely nothing weird about it, no, Natsu was just clad in a towel. Of course, there wasn’t anything weird or anything. It’s just Natsu half-naked and with water droplets falling down the man’s abs. It’s like a scene from a drama that has soft porn. Or just porn.

“What am I going to wear?” Natsu asks him.

Gray points to the closet, trying to maintain his composure. “I still have a pack of underwear I haven’t opened yet, so you can use that.”

The firefighter is just so hot, even if there’s a couple of burns on various parts of his body.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” the pink-haired man questions again.

“So you’re not teasing me again…” Gray replies, though he doesn’t really answer the question.

“Well?”

“You’re just really hot right now.”

Ha. Now it’s Natsu’s time to blush and scratch his head. “Well, gee, I didn’t expect that.”

Gray laughs. “Are you going to change into clothes or not?”

The pink-haired man hurriedly puts on the clothes he picked out from the closet and jumps on to the bed. Or Gray. Natsu wraps his arms around Gray’s waist, nuzzling against the crook between his neck and his shoulder. Gray runs his fingers through pink hair.

“Hmmm… do that more…” Natsu murmurs, lips moving against his skin as he speaks.

His fingers move from Natsu’s hairline down to the other man’s neck, repeating the action over and over again. The other man sighs contentedly and hugs Gray tighter.

“Like that?”

Natsu nods. He smiles giddily, though he shows it to the ceiling, not to Natsu. Gray has a feeling the other man can feel his smile, though. He can’t help it. But, then, anyway, he’s too happy to actually try not to smile.

The firefighter shifts from being on top of him to lying by his side, shifting Gray with him so that they’re face-to-face. Well, if face-to-face can be Natsu staring at (probably) Gray’s nose, yeah. The pink-haired man hasn’t really grown much over the years.

“What?” he asks Natsu as he continues to play with the man’s hair.

“I like looking at your face.”

Natsu trails a finger down Gray’s cheek down to his chin, then moves the finger up and touches the programmer’s lips lightly.

“And touching… and memorizing it,” the pink-head adds.

“Wow… now I feel kind of guilty. Am I a bad boyfriend now or what?”

A smile beams up at him. Gray thinks to himself that it’s so bright, that smile. “We’re boyfriends now? Really? I mean, we were going out, but you know, we didn’t really go and name what we have and I didn’t-“

“Yes, yes. We are.” He places a kiss on Natsu’s forehead, chuckling at the man’s enthusiasm.

“Should we move now? I just realized how uncomfortable this position is.” Gray looks down. Yes. He agrees. It definitely is. It feels like his ass is hanging off the edge of the bed. He nods.

They sit up from their positions and move to the pillows.

“I’m going to turn off the lights in the living room,” Gray says. He lazily gets up from the bed (it’s so soft, ah), shuffling to the other room and reaching for the switch. It’s dark. He goes back to the bedroom.

“Ah, your bed is so _nice_ …” Natsu rolls around his bed, wrinkling the comforter and messing the pillows around. Gray laughs again and sits at the edge of the bed. He stops the rolling figure of Natsu with a hand.

“Yours is better, what are you talking about,” he snorts at the pink-haired man. Natsu ignores his words, still moaning out praise for his apparently oh-so-wonderful bed.

“Come on, let’s sleep already.” Gray nudges Natsu, who is still lying around with his arms and legs spread out and blocking him off his _precious_ sleep. Thankfully, the other man does move and gets to the opposite side of the bed.

He sighs contentedly, shimmying next to Natsu. What a wonderful night. No need to turn on the air conditioner, thank god. Laying down, Gray stares at the man beside him. Well at least, only Natsu’s back. Pink is such a good color on Natsu, he decides.

“You know, you can melt me with that stare.” Gray jolts from his fixed gaze. Partially. He still sees how the muscles of Natsu’s back flex in the corner of his eye. The pink-head lowers his upper body down to the bed, settling his head on his hand, lips playfully curling at Gray.

“Thought you wouldn’t notice,” he manages to get out. Admitting that he was actually staring at Natsu kind of sends a thrilling embarrassment (is there even such a thing?) through him and makes his face and neck turn red.

The firefighter laughs and leans down to kiss him, caressing the smooth expanse of his cheek. Gray smiles into the kiss. As random as always. A tongue flicks at his lower lip, and he opens his mouth eagerly, letting the hot flesh collide with his own. Natsu’s lips are hot, not really like a searing flame, more like a comforting cup of hot cocoa on a rainy day.

Their kiss is wet, though slow. Wonderfully slow. It’s like they’re taking all the time they have in the world. Gray loves it that way, at least right now. He’s very well aware, too, of the hand creeping under his shirt. He pulls away with a gasp.

“I really… _really_ think we should sleep now,” Gray tells Natsu, looking down at the outline of Natsu’s hand under the white fabric he’s wearing. And the other man complies, much to Gray’s relief (and disappointment).

Kissing is fine, but proceeding down lower? Kind of something he’s not really sure about. Gray guesses it has something to do with his desire to take it slow (at least sexually; he kind of failed romantically).

He insults himself a _little_ inside his mind, really, because he isn’t sure about what he wants. Desiring to take it slow but also wanting to continue and just lose himself. Makes Gray feel like some teenager that’s making a whole lot of bad decisions.

“Yeah.” Natsu instead chooses to just tangle his legs with Gray’s and drape his arms around the programmer. They both sigh. That’s a better way to sleep.

 

They wake up the next day, probably at around four or five, still entangled in each other’s arms. Or at least Gray wakes up and finds that although their upper bodies weren’t at work the other night, their legs definitely were, seeing that the comforter that was supposed to be over their bodies is now crumpled at the edge of the bed. Gray wouldn’t have minded it (it’s so comfortably cold) if Natsu wasn’t shivering beside him.

Morning air is always the coldest. He slowly withdraws his arms from their position, thinking to himself, _please, please, don’t wake up, Natsu_. The bed creaks with the motion of him getting the comforter from its place and quickly wrapping it around Natsu and himself.

Getting back to their earlier position, slowly, slowly, Gray watches the other man’s body relax. It’s warmer now. Not like he’s complaining. This is also comfortable. He can’t help but fix his attention on the firefighter’s lips, slightly parted as Natsu inhales and exhales. Cute.

The next hour is spent on him (probably) gazing at the other man’s face until Natsu starts to stir and wake up. Gray panics, closing his eyes immediately. The bed creaks at the moving weight beside him. He hears Natsu groan, then move again, and next, he feels the firefighter’s hand on his hair.

Gray does his best to stay still. Natsu mutters beside him, “I love you.”

His heart almost rips through his chest. He’s pretty sure the pink-head can hear his heart beat right now. Why not? It’s deafening to his ears already, of course, Natsu can hear it. The hand descends down to his neck. Gray almost shivers.

He’s starting to think that they’re just going to stay in that position for a _very_ long time and that he could actually sleep like that when soft lips press against his own. Should he move? Maybe Gray should, he doesn’t really want to lose the feeling the kiss is giving him. Should he? Shou-

“Just move already, you. I know you’re awake,” is what Natsu tells him.

Gray’s eyes snap open. Greeting him is Natsu staring down at his dark blue orbs, pulling away from their kiss. Unthinking, he follows the warmth but gets stopped. He continues to stare at those lips. Natsu ignores him and laughs.

“Sorry, I haven’t brushed my teeth yet.”

He hums. Wait… hasn’t… brushed teeth… yet. His mind starts working again. Natsu chuckles beside him, still drawing circles around his neck. Gray laughs out and wiggles away from the fingers.

“Stop… hahaha… it tickles…”

Natsu stops, at least. That’s better than dying from laughing, right? _Idiot, who even dies from laughing?_ Gray shakes away his thoughts. He recalls what Natsu said. Calling out to the man walking away from him, he exclaims with flaming cheeks, “Hey! That was sexual harassment! You should have at least brushed your teeth! Hey!”

Natsu disappears behind the door.

 

“What are you cooking?” he asks, leaning against the counter to watch Natsu place a lump of pork mixed with seasoning and… uh, cabbage on a piece of dough. Pinching together both sides of the dough, the other man replies.

“Fried dumplings.”

Gray hums. Well, he hasn’t had this kind of food for a while now. “That sounds delicious.”

“It is. It’s crispy, too. I like it.” Natsu continues filling the dough, with him just watching the other man pile up a large amount of dumplings on a tray. So nice, he thinks to himself. Especially with the rain pouring outside, it would be perfect with a warm cup of coffee. Or maybe tea? Has he ever drank tea?

Stretching his back and standing up, he moves to the whistling kettle. He turns off the stove and pours out boiling water on two mugs. Coffee… or maybe tea?

“Hey, Natsu, which one do you like more, coffee or tea?” he asks, tilting his head lightly towards Natsu.

“Coffee.”

Gray nods and reaches towards the small glass jar of coffee on the counter. He remembers what kind of coffee Natsu likes. _A teaspoon of coffee, no cream, half a teaspoon of sugar, and… only half a mug of hot water._ Well, good thing he likes his water that way, too.

Going through the coffee mixing, he stares at the sizzling oil on the frying pan currently set over the stove’s fire. Gray watches Natsu place dumplings, already coated in a mixture of eggs and frying powder, on the pan. He breathes in deeply and decides that he can actually get full from the smell of the food frying.

“Can you get two plates here?” Natsu requests, flipping some of the dumplings. Gray nods and reaches to where he keeps his plates. He hands two of the porcelain ones to the firefighter.

“Enough?”

“Yes. Why porcelain, though?”

Gray shrugs. “Why not?”

“You’re right,” Natsu agrees and takes a sip from the mug of coffee sitting beside the stove. The pink-head hums against the liquid. “You really know what I like.”

He smiles. “Well, yeah. I mean, I didn’t get into a relationship with you to know nothing about you.”

Somehow, though, he still manages to internally wrinkle his nose at their past relationship. He really made a lot of mistakes. And a lot of teenage level ones at that.

“Hm.”

Natsu takes a dumpling from the pan to one of the plates. Gray takes the food into his hand. Or at least decides to, anyway, because the pink-haired man slaps his hand with a spatula, tutting disapprovingly.

“It’s still, hot, you’ll probably burn yourself. Let’s just eat them after I’ve finished cooking all of them.”

Gray laughs and slowly draws away a hand from the plates. “You’re like a mom.”

“I’m not a mom,” the firefighter insists, frowning a little at Gray. _Well, he definitely acts like one_. He chuckles to himself before taking a seat near the table.

“You could be one, though.”

“Yeah, if I’m actually a female and can give birth to children. Except I can’t.”

They continue to talk before all the cooking is done and they’re sitting on the couch, watching the news and munching on the crispy version of dumplings. Blah, blah, a car accident, blah, an actress is spotted touring around the city, blah, blah, blah, another scandal. Nothing eventful on the television. What’s eventful, really, is on the couch. Even though anyone else can consider it as just… boring.

Gray picks out another dumpling and hands it to Natsu, whose head is perched on the programmer’s lap. He tried to shoot down the idea of _this_ position when the firefighter proposed it, but apparently, Natsu wouldn’t take no for an answer on that particular matter and instead jumped on him the moment they got on the couch. Oh well.

It’s not like he hates the idea, really. Gray just (probably, maybe) doesn’t really like to put on roles. He’s seen this a lot. The girl is always the one who sits and lends her lap for her boyfriend. That kind of makes him the “girl”, at least sexually. Or whatever it’s called. The black-haired man knows he likes to take it up the ass, but he also likes to give, thank you very much. Eh. He doesn’t really know how to explain it.

A dumpling nudges at his lips. He looks down and sees Natsu looking back up at him. Opening his mouth, he munches the food. The firefighter hums, contented.

“Another one?” the firefighter asks, hand hovering over the plates. Gray nods. This is actually really good. Maybe he doesn’t mind this kind of position after all.

“Are you set on making me gain weight?”

Natsu jokingly stares up at him in horror. “Me? Never!”

Gray laughs. What a great day. The morning gets spent on them in front of the TV and doing _everything_ except watching the TV.

 

“You know, this is my first time eating a tub of ice cream under an umbrella while it’s raining,” Natsu points out while pressing a bit more against the table to avoid the rain from pelting his head and back. They got stuck eating outside – thankfully, on a table with an umbrella over it – and somehow, they didn’t notice the rain that was about to fall until it’s kind of too late.

Well, the door leading inside the convenience store is just a few feet away and they can just run, but no, they both agreed that they don’t find the idea of rain on their ice cream appetizing at all. Which resulted to them trying to eat their food peacefully while also evading the rain.

“Me, too,” Gray tells the firefighter after getting brain freeze from too many scoops of ice cream. He really should learn from _all_ of his past mistakes. Why does he always try to eat it too quickly?

They continue to gobble a ridiculous amount of the dessert, the rain still not letting up and the cashier looking at them oddly from the inside (but not even caring). In fact, a lot of other people passing by shoot odd looks at them. Gray really can’t blame them.

At some point, though, Shelby passes by them and notices them. She offers to get them inside the store, which both he and Natsu agree to without a second thought. They squeeze together under her umbrella, the thing barely big enough to cover all of them. Gray doesn’t really mind his right shoulder getting wet, since his main priority at the moment is their food.

They finally go through the door, with him and Natsu sighing as they sit on one of the tables.

“So, how did you get there by the way?” Shelby asks them as soon as she gets her food and sits in front of Natsu.

“We don’t like rain on ice cream.” They both answer the question at the same time, which kind of amazes and creeps Gray out, because, really, only creepily synchronized twins (or lovers that have been together for, like, ten to twenty years) do that. And they’re not that.

“Oh.” She goes silent after that, except for the occasional hum of agreement on one of his and Natsu’s bickering sessions. It’s actually kind of weird that she’s just staring at them most of the time (maybe even just at the firefighter) but Gray brushes it off. Eh.

Eventually, they leave. Gray gets tangled in a burrito by Natsu, who _giggles_ at the mess they made on the programmer’s bed. They have a make-out session after that, though it never really gets to anything more, because Natsu goes back to his own apartment and bids him goodbye and that he’ll call him. Now this feels a lot like some sort of domestic-but-not-so-domestic life. He’s quite satisfied.


	11. Spicy and Cheesy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wherein there's a lot of popcorn-throwing and movies and fluff and uh. Also, some things happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'm making this thirty chapters. I think. Also, obviously, I'm the editor of my own work, and as much as I'd like to think that I'm a fabulous editor (I really am), I sometimes miss things like typos or weird gaps between words that I intended to fill but forgot to. Idk who even cares about that besides me, tho, because I'm a large perfectionist when it comes to spelling and grammar in my writing. Ok, go read now.

See, here’s the thing about never going past to the R-18 stuff for like, 2 months or something. It leaves him with blue balls every time Natsu comes over or he goes to the firefighter’s apartment. It’s not like it’s even Natsu’s fault. No, Natsu’s wonderful. Wonderful, perfect, blah. It’s because of Gray and his weird weirdness and the fact that he kind of, maybe, mostly, completely keeps it to making out.

He’s about to pull his hair out from sexual frustration. Wants to just have sex already but also taking it so sloooowwwly. Ugh. _What kind of thinking is that?_ Probably has something to do with cognitive dissonance. Wow, now he’s actually buying and reading books and learning from them.

“Wow, is falling in love this girl’s only storyline?” Gray asks while they sit through another one of those clichéd rom-coms. They = Natsu, him, and Juvia, sitting in exactly that position. He’s pretty sandwiched between the two. He also tries not to think about his and Natsu’s touching legs, because a) he’s not a teenager and b) at his age, he really shouldn’t be getting excited over _touching legs_.

“Probably,” Juvia answers, reaching into the bowl Gray’s holding to get more popcorn. To be honest, most of the popcorn is spent on them throwing those at the screen every time they go ‘boo’ at a scene.

Also, probably the only reason they’re watching this is because it’s actually quite fun throwing the food together. They could really be solving world hunger or something and not wasting precious corn, but then, he kind of doubts anyone can really get full from just eating popcorn.

Juvia came an hour ago at his place with Natsu, greeting him with two DVD covers and a bag of corn. She’d cheerfully barged in and started preparing popcorn and the TV so they could watch some horrid movie on Sunday. And, well, Gray being Gray, he got blue balls again from Natsu cutting him slices of apples and feeding those to him. Frustrating.

Of course, they can’t really do anything that’s _anything_ , if you know what that means, because Juvia is with them and Gray’s not too much of a hypocrite to make out with Natsu right in front of Juvia when he himself almost vomits just from imagining Juvia and Lyon tonguing each other. Now that he thinks of it, why would he even imagine that?

And anyway, he’s supposedly taking it slow. Sloooowww. Which is a really hard thing to do, because he usually likes it hard and fast in sex ( _shhhh_ ) and he’s kind of like that in real life. See, Gray’s making comments about sex in his mind now and he’s still watching the scene in the rom-com that makes absolutely no sense.

They boo again and popcorn hits the screen.

“This is sexist,” Natsu comments at a particular part. They all agree. Somehow, they’re all feminists here (or equalitists, if people prefer that). Hold on, before everybody starts freaking out, this is not hardcore ‘ _men are absolute shits_ ’ feminism (Isn’t that female dominance already, instead of feminism, though?), cause that’s still sexist. And no, they’re not angry feminist ranters or something. They’re just people that care about equality between the two sexes (actually, also equality in general). Ok, now that that's done and all, let’s get out of the whole political box and get to the movie and the popcorn-throwing and them sitting around.

“Yeah, the lead’s a pretty weak character. What happened to strong, independent woman who doesn’t really care much about a guy who doesn’t care about her except for the sex?”

To be fair, what Juvia just said is true. It’s also part of the reason as to why Gray just wants slow (wow, he's kind of drawing a lot from this movie) because he’s afraid it will just be all about sex in their relationship once they do breach that part. He trusts Natsu. Gray just doesn’t trust himself all that much.

“What’s the next movie?” he asks Juvia before reaching for the wine glass on the table and pouring himself a shot. He’s got a lot of wine bottles on the fridge, and they opened three of those before the movie started and drank. Of course, because obviously, getting a tiny bit drunk while watching a movie is low-key the best thing ever. Gray thinks Juvia’s more than just a tiny bit drunk now, though, because she’s finished a whole bottle and is currently trying to do a weird arm dance while sitting on the couch.

“I don’t know, I didn’t check… hehe… I love this wine…” the blue-head replies, drinking another shot. Gray exchanges a look with Natsu. Six-thirty in the evening and Juvia’s drunk. They decide to get her home. Juvia laughs almost maniacally as him and Natsu call her boyfriend and ask Lyon to pick her up. He arrives in ten minutes.

“Thank you for calling me,” is what Lyon tells them before taking Juvia by the waist and leading her down to the parking lot. Gray watches the man’s grey car speed out of the establishment’s gate.

“Well, that was quick,” Natsu comments, closing the door behind him as they walk to the living room. A lot of popcorn is still scattered under the TV and two bottles of wine are still unfinished. They clean up for a few minutes and crash on the blue couch.

“Hm. Lyon’s always like that, anyway, so I don’t think I’m even bothered,” he says, turning his head around on the other man’s lap to look up at Natsu’s face. He still marvels over Natsu’s face, even now, and how he can just watch the man all day.

Natsu still looks at Gray curiously when he does his whole staring thing. “What?”

“Nothing. I just realized that I love you a lot.” It still feels hot in his cheeks when he says it, but he tells Natsu nevertheless. Gray loves how Natsu laughs that laugh he always laughs and leans down to kiss Gray’s lips. It’s full of warm warmness and affectionate adoration, that kiss, like the wine they just drank minutes ago, except better.

“Didn’t you know?”

“Never really fully sunk into my head.”

They remain like that for a few moments, Gray just tracing shapes on Natsu’s thighs and appreciating the firmness of them and Natsu protesting about how it tickles but still letting him do it. And, well, there's the fact that basically Gray's face is hovering really closely to Natsu's crotch. No, no. Gray's not thinking about dirty stuff right now. Of course not.

"Oh, Shelby just messaged me," Natsu mentions while Gray was thinking about... stuff.

He looks back up at Natsu's face, frowning a little, just so that he looks confused instead of angry. "When did you get her number?"

"I didn't. She messaged me on Twitter." Oh. Okay. Twitter. Does he even have that? Hm.

"Well, what did she say?" he demands (Natsu secretly thinks that Gray pouting up at him and _jealous_ \- though the latter thinks he's not being obvious - is really cute and that he kind of wants to eat the programmer right now).

Natsu glances down at the phone he's holding. "She said, 'hey do you wanna go out this weekend'."

"That sounds awfully like she's asking you out." Well, yeah, it does sound like that.

"What should I say?"

The black-haired man stares up at Natsu. Honestly, he doesn't know. Isn't that making a decision for the firefighter? It's kind of frightening, really.

"I don't know, really. Let her down easy?" Gray suggests, glancing quickly at the phone on Natsu's hand.

"Okay." _No. Think about it more._ It honestly scares him how Natsu outright just lets him make the decision. It wasn't really that big, but still. It gives Gray the suggestion that if he tells the pink-head to do anything, Natsu will do it. And that's scary, really.

"What did you say?" he asks Natsu, still looking up, this time, at the latter's phone cover.

"I told her that I only think of her as a friend. Do you think I should-" There's a pause. "Oh, she's clarifying to me that that was a friendly invite."

"Oh." See. He judged incorrectly. And made the wrong choice. Now, if that was a big decision, it would have been awful.

"Do you think I should tell her about us?" Gray chokes a little bit when he hears that.

"But isn't she still just a friend that we don't really see a lot? I don't think we're that close to her..." Well, yeah. People can be really judgemental, and it's not like they even know much about the girl except for her name, her dog, her job, and this annoying girl who works with her, despite them having met her weeks ago.

"Hm. Yeah. Let's not," Natsu agrees, which kind of makes Gray anxious, because _that's_ how much the other man trusts him, like, there's not even an argument going on.

He's not sure if he regrets the decision. There's too many 'what if's going around his brain, circling around randomly into a chaotic mess that Gray's too busy to address. Busy as in dying from sexual frustration.

His head is still on Natsu's lap, and that's the problem because a) said head is dangerously near the pink-haired man's crotch - Gray's trying so hard to keep his hands to himself (he's not pulling a Selena Gomez, thank you) - and b) fingers are currently running through his hair and he's still getting blue balls from just that, which is very distressing.

Erotic. That's what he thinks of the fingers on his hair and Natsu singing softly. Which just proves that Gray really is going crazy from this and that he should really just die alone because, really, does anyone else think this is erotic? ~~Maybe the author does...~~

It's almost funny except that Natsu looks down and catches him staring at the firefighter's clothed dick like it's what he needs in his entire life. ~~That might actually be true.~~ Gray stares up at the man awkwardly in return. This is kind of (very) embarrassing.

It happens quickly. A second, he's having an awkward staring competition with Natsu, another, Gray's meeting the other man halfway up to an open-mouthed kiss.

Their teeth clack against each other painfully, but they pay it no mind. Gray's tongue enters the other man's mouth, and gosh, is it filthy how Natsu sucks on it greedily. It makes Gray tingle with pleasure.

By now, the black-haired man's moved himself to straddling Natsu on his seat. They pull away after some time, not because they need air or something, but because they know they need more than just _kissing_ (they've been doing that since probably forever).

They stare at each other. Everything in Gray's mind is screaming at him to just _go_ and do something, _anything_. Instead, he sits there and gazes down into Natsu's eyes, motionless with his arms wrapped around the other's neck.

"Do you want to go further-" Gray can't hold it in anymore.

"Yes," he interrupts, climbing down from Natsu's lap to settle between his firm, _firm_ legs, touching them, almost in a worshipping manner. He hears Natsu gulp above him.

Gray slowly pulls down the zipper, popping out the button on Natsu's jeans and his hands shaking. He's also nervous. Still, he continues. And when he's pushed the denim down to Natsu's knees, he also peels away the underwear within. He'll laugh at the flame print on those, but he's too tense.

Natsu's breath hitches when Gray cups his dick with his hand. He looks up at the other man’s face as he draws a line from the base to the tip, slowly growing confident. Gray savors the look of pleasure on Natsu’s face.

He would really like to tease more, but Gray doesn't think it's the right time for that. Another time. His fingers wrap around the piece of flesh at the base, cold against hot, and Gray can almost hear the sizzle sounds in the background.

Natsu throws him a desperate look, staring pointedly at Gray's unmoving hand. The programmer smiles. "All right, I'll move. _So_ demanding," Gray teases before moving his hand up and sucking on the flared tip of Natsu’s memeber.

He bets Natsu only expected a handjob. Ha. He moves his head to get more of it in his mouth, though Gray doesn't let the tip touch the back of his throat. Gagging right now isn't really appealing.

His tongue swirls around Natsu's dick, his hand pumping the parts his mouth can't reach. Natsu's hand tugs at his hair encouragingly. The room fills with wet sounds and the quiet groans that spill out of the pink-haired man's mouth.

Gray releases the cock from his mouth with a _pop_. Leisurely stroking, he looks up again to find Natsu gazing intently at him, eyes hazy and clouded, but still intense.

Without a word, Gray moves up to place a kiss on the other man's lips, pressing his thumb against the slit of Natsu’s cock. It earns the programmer a groan, felt between their barely moving lips.

"Do... do that more," Natsu demands, clutching Gray's shirt tightly.

Gray nods. The action gets repeated, earning a wonderful reaction that he happily recieves every time. And when he goes back to place kisses on the side of _his_ boyfriend's dick, Gray hears the low groan that Natsu lets out before he cums.

Natsu sags against the couch, Gray going into the bathroom to wash his hands and get a piece of cloth he can use. He enters the living room and sits down next to the pink-haired man. Gray likes him like this, too, breathless and red.

He wipes away the sweat on Natsu's forehead, then the cum that splattered on the man's shirt. After washing the cloth and going back to the couch to get the other piece of clothing he needs to get Natsu out of, Gray finds Natsu shrugging out of said clothing and pulling his pants and briefs up.

"Haven't you… uh, cum?" Natsu asks him before folding his shirt and placing it on the table. He’ll have to remember to wash that. Or maybe the laundry shop won’t probe too much. Such wishful thinking.

"No. But it's fine," Gray tells Natsu, sitting down next to him and bumping his shoulders with the latter. _Ah_. This here is fine. It doesn’t even matter whether he got sexually satisfied or not.

"But-"

"It's fine, Natsu. I just wanted to... please you." Gray can already feel the frown forming on Natsu's face.

"But you don't need to do something to please me. You always do." Natsu wraps his arms around him, burying his face against the crook of Gray's neck. Gray smiles at the man's words.

"I just wanted to do that. Maybe to get rid of that weird sexual tension I felt. No need to, uh, return the action." Gray emphasizes that with a gesture to his pants.

"Okay." Natsu then adds, "If you say so."

They sit there for a few more minutes, silent and with only a few small motions between them. Gray relishes their closeness, placing a hand on the back of his lover’s neck and inhaling deeply the scent of Natsu’s hair. Smells like mint and a bit like burnt wood. Even his hair can tell you a little something about the man.

"Anyway, how come you stay at your house?” he inquires suddenly, wondering exactly why he hasn’t asked this until now. “Aren’t you supposed to have, like, a place you sleep on above the station itself?”

Natsu shrugs. “Well, when I came in, the space got pretty cramped, since two other people went in with me. So I thought I should just go sleep at my house to give more space for the others. I don’t really mind. My place is pretty near anyway.”

 _What a good boyfriend I have_ , Gray proudly says in his mind. He’s also learned for the past how many weeks that it’s actually volunteer work that Natsu does, and that the man’s income comes from Natsu’s business. And all the time before that, he’d thought Natsu was getting a monthly wage from being a firefighter. So the business administration course that Natsu took wasn’t so unnecessary as Gray had thought.

And it just makes him love the firefighter even more.

“You’re so nice,” he tells Natsu, reaching for the man’s cheeks to squeeze them. Squishy. That manly jawline can really be deceptive.

“I could have just wanted my house because it’s bigger,” Natsu teases, poking Gray’s nose in return. “Was that your way of saying ‘I love you’?”

Gray fake-gasps, exaggeratedly clapping a hand to his mouth and stares at Natsu in fake horror. “How did you know?”

“I. Know. Everything,” Natsu says while continuing to poke at the tip of the programmer’s nose at each word. Gray _ouch_ es softly at every poke. “I love you, too,” he adds.

“What is this newly-wed couple vibe I’m getting?” he asks teasingly.

The firefighter excitedly lifts his head from Gray’s shoulder, smiling brightly and bouncing on the cushions. Exactly what did Natsu just think about?

“What?” Gray asks again.

“I just had the greatest idea. Why…” The black-haired man inhales sharply in anticipation. _Well?_ “… don’t we live together?”

Gray joins Natsu in his jumping, reaching for both the latter’s hands and squeezing them tightly in excitement. By now, he’s given up even thinking about not smiling as widely as he is right now. “Are you serious?”

“Of course, I am! Isn’t it a great idea?” Natsu’s laughter rings out into the entire room, his face filling with a charming childish glee that Gray can’t help storing into his mind. It is indeed a great idea. Probably the best idea of all. Even if they’ve only been dating for two months. Oh, come on, people in movies move in after sixty minutes of dating.

“I love it. I love it so much,” he tells his boyfriend. Natsu laughs again and places a kiss on his lips.

“I love you, too,” Natsu says against his lips before they start excitedly talking about _their_ future and everything else in between. Gray thinks they wouldn’t be finished until midnight. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that was the first smut I've ever written and I'm not sure whether I should feel satisfied with it or not (welp). Is there such a thing as writing-smut-phobia?
> 
> Update: I'll probably not be posting any update on chapters for this until November or December. My studies are currently trying to kill me help.


	12. Douchey Author's Note

Okay, that title should have been a warning. And yes, this is like the worst shit any author can pull off, but I kind of didn't want to drag out stuff anymore and write a chapter to write this author's note. I'm sorry for that but also sorry I'm about to say what I'm about to say.

I'm discontinuing this work. My insecure ass is pretty sure nobody actually reads this, but anyway. I just realized that while I was on hiatus with this work, I was slowly drifting out of the fandom and literally I've lost inspiration and I just realized how tiring multi-chapter stories are. I'm pretty busy with uni and all that and honestly, I don't have enough time and effort for a story this long. I think I overestimated myself, ugh.

I'm still pretty attached to this story tho so... I'm not really sure what to do with that. (Please don't hate me ;-;)

**Author's Note:**

> Oh yay. They're probably OOC and shit but this is what I would view them if they graduated out of college and got their own jobs. I think they would have at least had more matured thinking by then. Don't worry, though, you'll still see some of their original personalities from the anime and manga from time to time. Again, if I need to improve on things (like the storyline), please tell me. Thank you!


End file.
